\u201cHere I don\u2019t have to worry about getting arrested for using medical marijuana,\u201d Penley tells Cannabis Now, \u201cbut it could cause me to lose all my veterans\u2019 benefits.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pain Killers Cut for Medical Cannabis Use<\/strong><\/h4>\nPenley\u2019s chronic back pain started to come on about 10 years ago, and it continues to get worse. He\u2019s been diagnosed with spinal stenosis<\/a> which the VA designates as a \u201cnonservice-connected disability.\u201d The agency has been sending him a codeine-acetaminophen mix to control the pain.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m taking one a day to make \u2019em last,\u201d he says. \u201cI won\u2019t get any more till I stop using cannabis, test again and come back clean for THC.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pills arrive by mail, but Penley must check in personally at the VA hospital in Las Vegas once month to have his urine tested. He says he believed this was just to monitor levels of the blood thinner Warfarin, which he also takes now following a heart attack, and to make sure his prescription was at the appropriate levels.<\/p>\n
But after his last test in early Sept., he received a call from his VA doctor\u2019s nurse\u2014informing him that he had tested positive for THC and his pills were being cut off until he tested clean.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took me by surprise,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been open with my VA doctors about using medical marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n
Penley worries that cutting off opioids could drive vets to the illegal market where they face the threat of an overdose from fentanyl. He points out that the Las Vegas area is currently witnessing an explosion of fentanyl-spiked painkillers<\/a> on the illicit market. Last month, local health officials reported five overdose deaths<\/a> related to street sales of the synthetic opioid over a 24-hour period<\/a>.<\/p>\nCannabis Eases Nuclear Nightmares<\/strong><\/h4>\nIn addition to his back pain, Penley suffers from PTSD, which he says is related to his service in the Navy from 1972 to 1976. Working as an air traffic controller at the Souda Bay<\/a> base on the Greek island of Crete, he was responsible for aircraft carrying nuclear weapons. During the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the base served as a \u201cforward operating airfield\u201d for U.S. operations in support of Israel. <\/p>\n\u201cI was extremely worried about a nuclear exchange between the U.S. and Russia, which were backing opposite sides in the war,\u201d Penley recalls. \u201cThe whole area was swimming with Russian submarines, and Nixon put the U.S. on the highest nuclear alert ever. I was afraid I was gonna get nuked in that control tower.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, he made petty officer second class before his honorable discharge. But Penley says he still has nightmares about being back in the control tower. And cannabis is what prevents the memories from haunting his waking life.<\/p>\n
State-Federal Disconnect<\/strong><\/h4>\nPenley takes oral doses of THC oil to manage both the PTSD and back pain. Although he still needs the codeine-acetaminophen mix, he believes cannabis use obviates the need for the far more powerful oxycontin\u2014or surgery. \u201cI\u2019m considering a back operation that I don\u2019t really want to get, but I can\u2019t take the pain,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Ironically, Penley had just been just re-approved for codeine earlier this year after having been cut off during the VA\u2019s crackdown<\/a> on prescriptions in response to the opioid epidemic<\/a> a few years ago.<\/p>\nIn the intervening years, he had no alternative but to take large quantities of over-the-counter acetaminophen. \u201cI was taking too much acetaminophen, a 500-milligram pill three times day,\u201d he says. In contrast, the combination pills he received from the VA contained just 300 milligrams of acetaminophen, and he only has to take one twice a day. Penley was recently diagnosed by the VA with kidney damage<\/a>, which he attributes to overuse of acetaminophen during the last period when his codeine had been cut off.<\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t like the fact that they\u2019re treating me as a criminal,\u201d Penley says. \u201cWhy should testing positive for cannabis affect the medicine I\u2019m getting from VA\u2014especially in a state where it\u2019s legal?\u201d<\/p>\n
And he points out another irony. \u201cI receive a discount for veterans at the dispensaries here in Las Vegas,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have the VA punishing veterans for using medical marijuana in the same states where vets are getting a discount.\u201d<\/p>\n
Illusion of Progress?<\/strong><\/h4>\nThe VA has been under growing pressure on this question, but there has actually been some recent progress\u2014at least on paper.<\/p>\n
The Missouri Independent<\/a> reported earlier this month that VA policy does not allow discrimination against veterans who enroll in state medical marijuana programs\u2014although they must do so with their own resources, outside the purview of the VA\u2019s Veterans Health Administration<\/a>. <\/p>\nIn Dec. 2017, the VA issued Directive 1315<\/a>, which states: \u201cVeterans will not be denied VA benefits because of marijuana use.\u201d<\/p>\nThe Missouri Independent quoted Derek Debus, an Arizona attorney and Marine veteran who specializes in VA benefit issues. \u201cI\u2019ve had clients in the past that, if they admit to medical marijuana usage, won\u2019t get any medication at all through the VA,\u201d Debus said. \u201cI\u2019ve had clients that have gone to the VA for acute injuries like kidney stones, or even a broken arm, who were denied pain medication because they tested positive for cannabis and or have a state medical marijuana card.\u201d<\/p>\n
The VA website touts an April 2021 study<\/a> from its own National Center for PTSD<\/a> noting \u201cgrowing interest and concern\u201d over increased cannabis use among veterans, as more states legalize. The study states that \u201cresearch to date does not support cannabis as an effective PTSD treatment, and some studies suggest cannabis can be harmful, particularly when used for long periods of time.\u201d <\/p>\nYet there certainly seems to be plenty of countervailing research. For instance, a 2015 study<\/a> of veterans in New York City, conducted by scholars at New York University, found: \u201cVeterans\u2019 comparisons of cannabis, alcohol, and psychopharmaceuticals tended to highlight advantages to cannabis use as more effective and less complicated by side effects. Some participants suggested that cannabis can be part of an approach-based coping strategy that aids with introspection and direct confrontation of the sources of personal trauma.\u201d<\/p>\nContacted by Cannabis Now, VA public affairs specialist Gary J. Kunich offered this explanation for how vets can still be cut off from receiving prescription meds for medical cannabis use despite Directive 1315: \u201cVeterans will not lose access to VA financial or medical benefits because of medical marijuana use, but it may affect clinical decisions about other prescriptions, including those for pain management. These are clinical decisions that practitioners make according to a medical evaluation and are not determined by VA policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In any case, Penley says he is not enrolled in the Nevada medical marijuana program because he is a relatively new arrival in the state, and cannabis is available freely on the adult-use market. If enrolling in the state program was necessary to keep his painkiller prescription from the VA, \u201cnobody here advised me of that,\u201d he says. \u201cNot even in the orientation when they prescribe your opiates. You\u2019d think they would have informed me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Veteran Organizations Embrace Right to Medical Cannabis<\/strong><\/h4>\nIn 2009, New Mexico became the first state to make PTSD sufferers eligible for medical marijuana. The condition has since been included in most state medical marijuana programs.<\/p>\n
The effort to get the VA to take a more tolerant stance got another boost in 2016 when the American Legion<\/a>, a veterans organization of 1.8 million members known for its conservative politics, urged Congress to remove cannabis from the federal list of prohibited drugs and allow research into its medical applications. Lawrence Montreuil, the organization\u2019s legislative director, told Stars & Stripes<\/a>, \u201cI think knowing an organization like the American Legion supports it frankly gives [lawmakers] a little bit of political cover to do something that they may have all along supported but had concerns about voter reaction.\u201d<\/p>\nThe organization Disabled American Veterans (DAV<\/a>), which actually donated the vehicle that picks up Penley for his VA doctor appointments, has also embraced<\/a> exploring \u201cmedical cannabis as an alternative to opioids for veterans.\u201d<\/p>\nA Legislative Solution?<\/strong><\/h4>\nIn recent years, The Veterans Equal Access Act has repeatedly introduced<\/a> legislation to facilitate medical cannabis access for military veterans suffering from chronic pain, PTSD, and other serious medical conditions. This bill would allow VA doctors to recommend cannabis under state medical marijuana programs and assure that vets do not lose any benefits for enrolling.<\/p>\nThis April, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) joined with Congressional Cannabis Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Dave Joyce (R-OH) to introduce another version of the bill, the Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act.<\/p>\n
But as the cannabis advocacy group NORML<\/a> notes, Congressional conservatives have repeatedly blocked such efforts despite the growing evidence of the medicinal value of cannabis for PTSD sufferers.<\/p>\nNORML points out that a 2014 retrospective review of patients\u2019 symptoms published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs<\/a> found a greater than 75% reduction in Clinician Administered Posttraumatic Scale (CAPS) symptom scores following cannabis therapy.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/va-still-punishes-veterans-for-using-medical-cannabis.jpg\")
<\/a>John Penley being detained by police \/ PHOTO courtesy John Penley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nVets Stand Up<\/strong><\/h4>\nJohn Penley has been a part of the activist effort around this issue.<\/p>\n
On Veterans Day 2018, he was among a group of vets who camped out<\/a> at the national offices of the VA to demand access to medical marijuana. <\/p>\nHe was also arrested for crossing police lines<\/a> while protesting lack of action on veteran suicides at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC. <\/p>\nIn July 2014, when the Veterans for Peace<\/a> national convention was held in his hometown of Asheville, NC, he pushed for a resolution<\/a> which was adopted, stating that \u201cit is the right of any Veteran to discuss with his\/her health care provider any and all possible treatment options\u2026including the use of medical cannabis, without the threat to the Veteran or provider of disciplinary action, regulatory loss of privilege and\/or benefits, or criminal sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\nAs for the response to his own cut-off of painkillers, Penley affirms: \u201cThey say it\u2019s federal policy and they don\u2019t have a choice in the matter, but the feds shouldn\u2019t be punishing people for using medical marijuana.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI should be able to get medical marijuana from the VA,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the vet suicide rate would go down if they supplied it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the reasons John Penley moved out to Nevada from his native North Carolina last year was for the legal cannabis, which he uses to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to his military service in the 1970s. He didn\u2019t anticipate that his use of state-legal cannabis could result in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) cutting off the pain killers that he also needs. \u201cHere I don\u2019t have to worry about getting arrested for using medical marijuana,\u201d Penley tells Cannabis Now, \u201cbut it could cause me to lose all my veterans\u2019 benefits.\u201d Pain Killers Cut for Medical Cannabis Use… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cI\u2019m taking one a day to make \u2019em last,\u201d he says. \u201cI won\u2019t get any more till I stop using cannabis, test again and come back clean for THC.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pills arrive by mail, but Penley must check in personally at the VA hospital in Las Vegas once month to have his urine tested. He says he believed this was just to monitor levels of the blood thinner Warfarin, which he also takes now following a heart attack, and to make sure his prescription was at the appropriate levels.<\/p>\n
But after his last test in early Sept., he received a call from his VA doctor\u2019s nurse\u2014informing him that he had tested positive for THC and his pills were being cut off until he tested clean.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took me by surprise,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been open with my VA doctors about using medical marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n
Penley worries that cutting off opioids could drive vets to the illegal market where they face the threat of an overdose from fentanyl. He points out that the Las Vegas area is currently witnessing an explosion of fentanyl-spiked painkillers<\/a> on the illicit market. Last month, local health officials reported five overdose deaths<\/a> related to street sales of the synthetic opioid over a 24-hour period<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to his back pain, Penley suffers from PTSD, which he says is related to his service in the Navy from 1972 to 1976. Working as an air traffic controller at the Souda Bay<\/a> base on the Greek island of Crete, he was responsible for aircraft carrying nuclear weapons. During the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the base served as a \u201cforward operating airfield\u201d for U.S. operations in support of Israel. <\/p>\n \u201cI was extremely worried about a nuclear exchange between the U.S. and Russia, which were backing opposite sides in the war,\u201d Penley recalls. \u201cThe whole area was swimming with Russian submarines, and Nixon put the U.S. on the highest nuclear alert ever. I was afraid I was gonna get nuked in that control tower.\u201d<\/p>\n Nonetheless, he made petty officer second class before his honorable discharge. But Penley says he still has nightmares about being back in the control tower. And cannabis is what prevents the memories from haunting his waking life.<\/p>\n Penley takes oral doses of THC oil to manage both the PTSD and back pain. Although he still needs the codeine-acetaminophen mix, he believes cannabis use obviates the need for the far more powerful oxycontin\u2014or surgery. \u201cI\u2019m considering a back operation that I don\u2019t really want to get, but I can\u2019t take the pain,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Ironically, Penley had just been just re-approved for codeine earlier this year after having been cut off during the VA\u2019s crackdown<\/a> on prescriptions in response to the opioid epidemic<\/a> a few years ago.<\/p>\n In the intervening years, he had no alternative but to take large quantities of over-the-counter acetaminophen. \u201cI was taking too much acetaminophen, a 500-milligram pill three times day,\u201d he says. In contrast, the combination pills he received from the VA contained just 300 milligrams of acetaminophen, and he only has to take one twice a day. Penley was recently diagnosed by the VA with kidney damage<\/a>, which he attributes to overuse of acetaminophen during the last period when his codeine had been cut off.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like the fact that they\u2019re treating me as a criminal,\u201d Penley says. \u201cWhy should testing positive for cannabis affect the medicine I\u2019m getting from VA\u2014especially in a state where it\u2019s legal?\u201d<\/p>\n And he points out another irony. \u201cI receive a discount for veterans at the dispensaries here in Las Vegas,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have the VA punishing veterans for using medical marijuana in the same states where vets are getting a discount.\u201d<\/p>\n The VA has been under growing pressure on this question, but there has actually been some recent progress\u2014at least on paper.<\/p>\n The Missouri Independent<\/a> reported earlier this month that VA policy does not allow discrimination against veterans who enroll in state medical marijuana programs\u2014although they must do so with their own resources, outside the purview of the VA\u2019s Veterans Health Administration<\/a>. <\/p>\n In Dec. 2017, the VA issued Directive 1315<\/a>, which states: \u201cVeterans will not be denied VA benefits because of marijuana use.\u201d<\/p>\n The Missouri Independent quoted Derek Debus, an Arizona attorney and Marine veteran who specializes in VA benefit issues. \u201cI\u2019ve had clients in the past that, if they admit to medical marijuana usage, won\u2019t get any medication at all through the VA,\u201d Debus said. \u201cI\u2019ve had clients that have gone to the VA for acute injuries like kidney stones, or even a broken arm, who were denied pain medication because they tested positive for cannabis and or have a state medical marijuana card.\u201d<\/p>\n The VA website touts an April 2021 study<\/a> from its own National Center for PTSD<\/a> noting \u201cgrowing interest and concern\u201d over increased cannabis use among veterans, as more states legalize. The study states that \u201cresearch to date does not support cannabis as an effective PTSD treatment, and some studies suggest cannabis can be harmful, particularly when used for long periods of time.\u201d <\/p>\n Yet there certainly seems to be plenty of countervailing research. For instance, a 2015 study<\/a> of veterans in New York City, conducted by scholars at New York University, found: \u201cVeterans\u2019 comparisons of cannabis, alcohol, and psychopharmaceuticals tended to highlight advantages to cannabis use as more effective and less complicated by side effects. Some participants suggested that cannabis can be part of an approach-based coping strategy that aids with introspection and direct confrontation of the sources of personal trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n Contacted by Cannabis Now, VA public affairs specialist Gary J. Kunich offered this explanation for how vets can still be cut off from receiving prescription meds for medical cannabis use despite Directive 1315: \u201cVeterans will not lose access to VA financial or medical benefits because of medical marijuana use, but it may affect clinical decisions about other prescriptions, including those for pain management. These are clinical decisions that practitioners make according to a medical evaluation and are not determined by VA policy.\u201d<\/p>\n In any case, Penley says he is not enrolled in the Nevada medical marijuana program because he is a relatively new arrival in the state, and cannabis is available freely on the adult-use market. If enrolling in the state program was necessary to keep his painkiller prescription from the VA, \u201cnobody here advised me of that,\u201d he says. \u201cNot even in the orientation when they prescribe your opiates. You\u2019d think they would have informed me.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2009, New Mexico became the first state to make PTSD sufferers eligible for medical marijuana. The condition has since been included in most state medical marijuana programs.<\/p>\n The effort to get the VA to take a more tolerant stance got another boost in 2016 when the American Legion<\/a>, a veterans organization of 1.8 million members known for its conservative politics, urged Congress to remove cannabis from the federal list of prohibited drugs and allow research into its medical applications. Lawrence Montreuil, the organization\u2019s legislative director, told Stars & Stripes<\/a>, \u201cI think knowing an organization like the American Legion supports it frankly gives [lawmakers] a little bit of political cover to do something that they may have all along supported but had concerns about voter reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n The organization Disabled American Veterans (DAV<\/a>), which actually donated the vehicle that picks up Penley for his VA doctor appointments, has also embraced<\/a> exploring \u201cmedical cannabis as an alternative to opioids for veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n In recent years, The Veterans Equal Access Act has repeatedly introduced<\/a> legislation to facilitate medical cannabis access for military veterans suffering from chronic pain, PTSD, and other serious medical conditions. This bill would allow VA doctors to recommend cannabis under state medical marijuana programs and assure that vets do not lose any benefits for enrolling.<\/p>\n This April, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) joined with Congressional Cannabis Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Dave Joyce (R-OH) to introduce another version of the bill, the Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act.<\/p>\n But as the cannabis advocacy group NORML<\/a> notes, Congressional conservatives have repeatedly blocked such efforts despite the growing evidence of the medicinal value of cannabis for PTSD sufferers.<\/p>\n NORML points out that a 2014 retrospective review of patients\u2019 symptoms published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs<\/a> found a greater than 75% reduction in Clinician Administered Posttraumatic Scale (CAPS) symptom scores following cannabis therapy.<\/p>\n John Penley has been a part of the activist effort around this issue.<\/p>\n On Veterans Day 2018, he was among a group of vets who camped out<\/a> at the national offices of the VA to demand access to medical marijuana. <\/p>\n He was also arrested for crossing police lines<\/a> while protesting lack of action on veteran suicides at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC. <\/p>\n In July 2014, when the Veterans for Peace<\/a> national convention was held in his hometown of Asheville, NC, he pushed for a resolution<\/a> which was adopted, stating that \u201cit is the right of any Veteran to discuss with his\/her health care provider any and all possible treatment options\u2026including the use of medical cannabis, without the threat to the Veteran or provider of disciplinary action, regulatory loss of privilege and\/or benefits, or criminal sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the response to his own cut-off of painkillers, Penley affirms: \u201cThey say it\u2019s federal policy and they don\u2019t have a choice in the matter, but the feds shouldn\u2019t be punishing people for using medical marijuana.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI should be able to get medical marijuana from the VA,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the vet suicide rate would go down if they supplied it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the reasons John Penley moved out to Nevada from his native North Carolina last year was for the legal cannabis, which he uses to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to his military service in the 1970s. He didn\u2019t anticipate that his use of state-legal cannabis could result in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) cutting off the pain killers that he also needs. \u201cHere I don\u2019t have to worry about getting arrested for using medical marijuana,\u201d Penley tells Cannabis Now, \u201cbut it could cause me to lose all my veterans\u2019 benefits.\u201d Pain Killers Cut for Medical Cannabis Use… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marijuana_information"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Cannabis Eases Nuclear Nightmares<\/strong><\/h4>\n
State-Federal Disconnect<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Illusion of Progress?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Veteran Organizations Embrace Right to Medical Cannabis<\/strong><\/h4>\n
A Legislative Solution?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
<\/a>Vets Stand Up<\/strong><\/h4>\n