Some of the nation’s largest veterans groups are pushing the current administration to “expeditiously” ease federal restrictions on marijuana, joining a growing number of calls to reschedule the drug six months after the Department of Health and Human Services recommended doing so.
Cannabis is currently classified as a Schedule 1 drug, which means it has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use in treatment, alongside substances like heroin. The Department of Health and Human Services has recommended rescheduling it to Schedule 3, which is far less restrictive. Though the Department of Veterans Affairs is prohibited from denying health services to veterans who use marijuana in states where it is legal, the agency does not offer medical marijuana as a treatment for veterans or pay for medical marijuana prescriptions from any source — even in the more than 40 states where cannabis is legal in some form.
Last summer, the VA and the Defense Department released a joint recommendation against the use of marijuana for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Veterans groups wrote that their members want the option, citing a survey conducted by the American Legion in which 82% of respondents said they want medical cannabis as a federally legal treatment option.
