{"id":146038,"date":"2023-08-20T11:15:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T15:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=146038"},"modified":"2023-08-19T12:45:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T16:45:17","slug":"veteran-administration-doctors-prescribing-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=146038","title":{"rendered":"Veteran Administration doctors prescribing marijuana?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/drugs.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-123017\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/drugs-264x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"264\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/drugs-264x300.jpg 264w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/drugs-293x333.jpg 293w, https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/drugs.jpg 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 264px) 100vw, 264px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Three representatives sent a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs regarding its prohibition related to marijuana. Currently, VA doctors are not able to prescribe medical cannabis. Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), and Dave Joyce (R-OH), asked that the VA reconsider its policies against prescribing marijuana in states that allow medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><b>From the House webpage for Barbara Lee:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We write with deep concern that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) renewed undue restrictions on veterans&#8217; care and once again denied the reality of medical marijuana as a key treatment option for those impacted by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic pain, and other conditions disproportionately harming our veterans. Especially after issuing guidance against recommending medical marijuana as an option for veterans with PTSD, the renewal of Veterans Health Administration Directive 1315&#8217;s prohibition on VA providers recommending, making referrals, or completing forms for state-authorized medical marijuana is an alarming decision. We urge you to reconsider this misguided prohibition that prevents these health professionals from considering the full range of available treatment options in consultation with their patients.<\/p>\n<p>Before VA issued the renewal of this harmful policy, we led a divided Congress to pass a provision in the Fiscal Year 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 4366) to end the continued restrictions on VA providers to make recommendations and referrals and to complete forms for state-authorized medical marijuana programs. Since 2014, Congress has also prohibited the use of Department of Justice funds for prosecution against individuals who engage in state-authorized medical marijuana activities. This protection against federal interference in medical marijuana includes the VA providers in the 38 states that have adopted medical marijuana programs.<\/p>\n<p>Giving VA providers the discretion to recommend or not recommend medical marijuana as best serves their patients would improve veterans&#8217; services and stop forcing them to self-medicate or seek care outside of the VA system. It would not put providers at risk of federal prosecution from the Department of Justice and its agencies. Many veterans already report using cannabis for medical purposes as a substitute for prescription drugs and their side effects. Just this year, new research found veterans reported medical cannabis &#8220;helped them to experience a greater quality of life and&#8230; reported using fewer opioids as a result of their medical cannabis use.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Information related to this letter can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/lee.house.gov\/news\/press-releases\/lee-blumenauer-joyce-urge-department-of-veterans-affairs-to-reconsider-guidance-prohibiting-va-doctors-from-prescribing-medical-cannabis\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lee.house.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/vha_directive_letter.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three representatives sent a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs regarding its prohibition related to &hellip; <a title=\"Veteran Administration doctors prescribing marijuana?\" class=\"hm-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=146038\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Veteran Administration doctors prescribing marijuana?<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-veteran-health-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146038\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}