Veteran
members of the Veterans Of Foreign Wars in the Ninth District of Kentucky will
vote in January on a resolution supporting Veteran access to medical marijuana
thru the auspices of the Veterans Administration. The resolution
recommends that the Federal Government provide, thru the Veterans
Administration Health System, medical marijuana to Veterans with qualifying
conditions such as chronic pain, Post Traumatic Stress and a number of other
conditions for which medical marijuana is effective.
The
Government can accomplish this, the resolution states, “ by providing vouchers
to Veterans who live in medical marijuana States and by directly providing the
marijuana from the Government’s marijuana farm in Mississippi to Veterans who
do not live in medical marijuana States as is currently done for the survivors
of the old Compassionate Care Program. The resolution also states that
the Government should act post haste to provide this safe and effective
medicine for the care of our Veterans.
Justification
supporting the resolution sited the following points:
Thousands
of our Comrade Veterans use this medicine everyday and they report that it
works wonders in treating Post Traumatic Stress, chronic pain, phantom pain
from loss of a limb and a number of related conditions.
The
Doctors treating these Veterans agree that marijuana is effective in treating
these conditions and that it should be made available to these Veterans..
The American Medical Association, The American College of Physicians, The
American Nurses Association, The American Academy of Family Physicians and The
Federation of American Scientists all recognize medical marijuana as legitimate
medicine. Even the Veterans Administration now recognizes Veteran use of
medical marijuana.
The
need for action on this issue is tantamount as for some of our Veterans access
to this medicine can be a life or death issue. It has been noted that
states with medical marijuana laws in place are starting to experience lower
rates of suicide which has been attributed to the availability of medical
marijuana.
Since
the proposal of this resolution one more state has passed legislation
authorizing the use of medical marijuana and two states have legalized it’s use
for recreational purposes. Civilians can now use it for recreation but
Veterans cannot access it for medical needs. Something not right about
that we think.
Lastly,
we as Veterans are the leaders in our communities and in our nation as
well. As leaders we are the ones who can effect needed policy change and
as Americans and especially as Veterans we have a duty to do so, in service to
our country and in service to our wounded and disabled Veterans.
The
resolution will be voted on at the Ninth District of Kentucky meeting
January 20, 2013.
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