Despite the fact that cannabis has been proven in many cases to help significantly with PTSD and other conditions that veterans suffer from, Veteran’s Affairs hospitals still refuse to accept it as a form of medical treatment.
According to High Times, just like in many other states, Illinois just decided that they will not allow medical cannabis as a treatment in VA hospitals, despite the fact that a lot of veterans depend on it for treatment. The reason this keeps happening is because the VA is run by the federal government, so even in states where cannabis is accepted medically, hospitals fear losing government funding or even harsher consequences if they do decide to allow cannabis.
Because of this refusal, some veterans have turned to other means to get their medical cannabis, such as going to recreationally legal states in order to buy their medicine. However, many are scared to do even this because the VA is so strict about cannabis. While they cannot technically refuse to treat someone because they are or appear to be under the influence of cannabis, hospitals can still deny them prescriptions or other medications, which can be devastating for veterans who rely on cannabis in conjunction with other medicine for their treatment.
“If they’re being treated at a VA facility, and they’re understanding of the rules and regulations, then I’m thinking the majority of the time they’re gonna choose not to use it,” veteran Edwin Cook stated in an interview with Illinois Homepage.
The struggle to access cannabis as medicine continues for veterans, as a large number of them suffer from PTSD, and want to stop using harmful drugs in their treatment and turn to something natural instead. Unfortunately, the path to getting cannabis as a veteran will probably not be cleared until things are legal on a national, federal level.
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