{"id":8098,"date":"2018-02-23T19:34:12","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T19:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2962864&amp;preview_id=2962864"},"modified":"2018-02-23T19:34:12","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T19:34:12","slug":"veterans-group-ratchets-up-pressure-on-white-house-and-congress-to-support-medical-marijuana-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/veterans-group-ratchets-up-pressure-on-white-house-and-congress-to-support-medical-marijuana-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans group ratchets up pressure on White House and Congress to support medical marijuana research"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/veterans-group-ratchets-up-pressure-on-white-house-and-congress-to-support-medical-marijuana-research\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Feb 23, 2018, 12:12 pm \u2022 Updated: Feb 23, 2018, 5:21 pm <span class=\"single-comments-link\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <span class=\"author\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/bkennedy\/\" rel=\"author\">Bruce Kennedy<\/a><\/span><em>, The Cannabist Staff<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Top officials at of The American Legion, the nation\u2019s largest veterans organization, on Friday stepped up their calls for the federal government to legitimize and invest in medical marijuana research.<\/p>\n<p>In a speech to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the Legion National Commander Denise Rohan outlined how the White House and Congress could improve the delivery of benefits to the nation\u2019s 20 million-plus veterans. Medical cannabis was on the list.<\/p>\n<p>In fulfilling its mission to make sure veterans are taken care of, \u201cwe have to find replacements for the opioid epidemic we have in this nation,\u201d Rohan said.<\/p>\n<p>The organization\u2019s call for additional research into cannabis as a potential treatment for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), pain and other ailments was reiterated by Louis Celli, National Director Veterans Affairs &amp; Rehabilitation at the Legion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just need to know that the American government is focused on trying to find cures for not only veterans but for all Americans,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if cannabis, which is a drug, is something that can help (then) they have to do the research to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Legion has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legion.org\/veteranshealthcare\/239804\/legion-resolutions-medical-marijuana\">passed several resolutions on cannabis<\/a> over the past two years. A 2016 measure calls on the Drug Enforcement Agency to license privately-funded medical marijuana operations, ensuring \u201csafe and efficient\u201d research into cannabis. It also asks for the rescheduling of cannabis from its current, decades-long classification as a Schedule 1 drug into a category that, \u201cat a minimum, will recognize cannabis as a drug with a potential medical value.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The other resolution, passed last year, calls on the Veterans Administration (VA) to allow its medical advisors to openly discuss the use of medical cannabis with veterans for medical purposes \u2013 as well as to recommend medicinal cannabis where it is legal.<\/p>\n<p>Last November, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/11\/02\/veterans-medical-marijuana-american-legion\/91525\/\">a Legion-commissioned national survey<\/a> showed strong support for medical cannabis research and legalization within the military veteran community.<\/p>\n<p>In December, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/12\/20\/veterans-medical-marijuana-va-policy\/94955\/\">VA issued a directive<\/a>, allowing its doctors and pharmacists to discuss cannabis with veterans taking part in state-approved medical marijuana programs. However, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/03\/06\/veterans-weed-for-warriors\/74996\/\">Weed for Warriors Project<\/a>, a pro-cannabis legalization veterans group, warned that vets who choose to talk about marijuana use with doctors might be identified by the VA as having a substance abuse disorder, which would in turn curtail their access to other medicines.<\/p>\n<p>The Legion\u2019s Celli also addressed that issue Friday, when asked if he was seeing any pushback to the organization\u2019s stance on cannabis due to the stigmas still surrounding marijuana.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PressClubDC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PressClubDC<\/a> Headliners Newsmaker: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AmericanLegion?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AmericanLegion<\/a> Nat\u2019l Cmdr Denise Rohan <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/V1A3Hws6xr\">https:\/\/t.co\/V1A3Hws6xr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 American Legion DC (@legionindc) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/legionindc\/status\/967051327707607045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 23, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say we\u2019re getting pushback,\u201d he responded. \u201cWhat we\u2019re getting is\u2026stories from veterans who live in states that have legal cannabis programs, and they\u2019re participating in those programs with a feeling of inner guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ambivalence about medical cannabis, he said, comes from years of being told that marijuana is bad and immoral.<\/p>\n<p>Veterans in those state-legal cannabis programs, he added, see pot as a valid treatment but still feel like they could be on \u201cthe wrong side of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And they too are looking for the federal government to invest in this research,\u201d he added, \u201cto validate what\u2026they\u2019re experiencing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The VA appears to be quietly changing its stance on veterans\u2019 access to cannabis. Tom Angell of\u00a0MarijuanaMoment.net\u00a0on Monday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marijuanamoment.net\/va-admits-can-look-marijuana-option-treating-veterans\/\">reported that\u00a0the VA\u2019s web site on PTSD research had been updated<\/a>\u00a0with language indicating the administration can \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.research.va.gov\/topics\/ptsd.cfm\">look at marijuana as an option for treating Veterans<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rohan, meanwhile, is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.press.org\/news-multimedia\/news\/first-female-american-legion-national-commander-speak-club-10-am-feb-23\">scheduled to testify<\/a> on February 28th before a joint session of the House and Senate Committees on Veteran\u2019s Affairs. She\u2019s also expected to meet Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin.<\/p>\n<p>Despite an ongoing controversy regarding the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/oig\/publications\/report-summary.asp?id=4034\">alleged misuse of VA funds<\/a>, Rohan expressed support for Shulkin during her Press Club comments.<\/p>\n<p>&#013; &#013; <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-meta-author\">\n<div class=\"authorimage\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/bkennedy\/\" rel=\"author\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/veterans-group-ratchets-up-pressure-on-white-house-and-congress-to-support-medical-marijuana-research.jpg\" class=\"authormug\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-desc\">Bruce Kennedy is a veteran communications professional and multi-media journalist who has years of experience in international and business news. He started covering Colorado&#8217;s cannabis industry in&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Top officials at of The American Legion stepped up their calls for the federal government to legitimize and invest in medical marijuana research. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,6811,117,7530,5630,6813,77,5667,56,9,5019,1777,1,3,160,173,61,162,1736],"tags":[2632,6816,2695,7531,5633,6818,2655,5673,2636,5022,4345,2738,2751,2740],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8098"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}