Marijuana > Medical Marijuana
VA gets something correct for once, allows marijuana
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elyusium:
I thought you'd be interested. I'll come in handy if you ever need pain meds.
Love
Sea Mac:
Yes!
I receive VA Services and I live in a State where MMJ is legal!
[Genius +] for bringing this to my attention!
elyusium:
Medical marijuana approved at some VA hospitals
The Department of Veterans Affairs will formally allow patients treated at its hospitals and clinics to use medical marijuana in states where it is legal.
A department directive resolves the conflict in veterans facilities between federal law, which outlaws marijuana, and the 14 states and Washington D.C. that allow medicinal use of the drug, effectively deferring to the states.
Previously, under department rules, veterans could be denied pain meds if they were found to be using illegal drugs.
"If a veteran obtains and uses medical marijuana in a manner consistent with state law, testing positive for marijuana would not preclude the veteran from receiving opioids for pain management in a VA facility," wrote Dr. Robert Petzel, VA's undersecretary of health. "The discretion to prescribe, or not prescribe, opioids in conjunction with medical marijuana, should be determined on clinical grounds." Opioids are narcotic painkillers, and include morphine, oxycodone and methadone.
Under the previous policy, local VA clinics in some of the 14 states, such as Michigan, had opted to allow the use of medical marijuana because there was no rule explicitly prohibiting them from doing so.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, there are 14 states and the District of Columbia with medical marijuana laws. They are: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. New Jersey also recently passed a medical marijuana law, which is scheduled to be implemented next January.
For information, go to Department of Veterans Affairs: www.va.gov/
For the group Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access: www.veteransformedicalmarijuana.org/
For extensive health information, go to www.healthkey.com
Tags:
* Department of Veterans Affairs
* medical marijuana
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