Improving the Lives of Those Who Protected Ours
America’s prolonged military conflicts over the past 17 years have exposed an aging and ineffective health care system, ill-prepared for the type and severity of the latest round of war-related injuries. Upwards of 20 percent of the 2.7 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will experience post-traumatic stress or depression, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA is not equipped to effectively or comprehensively treat the complexity of every veteran’s mental and physical wounds, leaving former service members to cope with limited and inadequate treatment options. Veterans are often placated with “cocktails” of prescription drugs, including powerful and addictive opiates. The current arrangement is not meeting veterans’ healthcare needs.
Medical cannabis is a proven, safe and common-sense personal health management option, free of the devastating side effects of opiate-based drugs. It is now legal in 34 states plus D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands and is recognized by experts such as the American College of Physicians, the American Public Health Association and the American Nurses Association as a safer alternative to many federally legal treatments. Medicinal cannabis is an incredibly effective tool for veterans challenged with managing the symptoms of their wounds.