American Legion Asking for the Rescheduling of Cannabis From Schedule I to Allow For Research
American veterans are looking for help from President Donald Trump and their post service health care. The veteran service is looking for the Trump administration to change the classification of cannabis from a schedule I to a schedule II drug. The change in classification allows for the drug to be used in a research capacity, which may result in treatment for traumatic brain injury and PTSD.
America’s largest veterans service organization has a message for President Donald Trump: Reschedule marijuana to permit research into its medical efficacy for treating vets suffering from traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The appeal by the American Legion was included in a letter sent to the White House last month. The letter requests a meeting with Trump to discuss critical veterans’ issues including opiate addiction and suicide, and calls on the Trump administration to “clear the way for clinical research in the cutting edge areas of cannabinoid receptor research,” according to portions of the draft letter shared with The Cannabist.
“It’s time the federal government took action to remove barriers to scientific research on this very important subject,” said Joe Plenzler, American Legion Director of Media Relations, in an email to The Cannabist.
Under the Controlled Substances Act, cannabis is listed alongside heroin, LSD and ecstasy as a Schedule I substance — the strictest of classifications, defined as having a high potential for abuse and no “currently accepted medical use.”
The American Legion’s request is an attempt to extricate the federal government from a “policy Catch 22,” said Louis Celli, the organization’s national director of veterans affairs and rehabilitation.
“On one hand the government claims that there is no federally approved scientific evidence to support cannabis being used in a medical environment, so they refuse to consider reclassifying it,” he said via email. “And on the other hand they refuse to permit scientific research because it’s a Schedule 1 substance.”
American Legion officials stress that they are not advocating for marijuana legalization.
“Rather we are advocating for re-scheduling so that more research can be done,” said Plenzler. “That (research) will enable our elected leaders and the American people to have a national discussion on the matter based on scientific evidence.”
The American Legion has received feedback from many veterans who report access to medical cannabis has been “effective” in helping them cope with issues such as traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Plenzler said. He called those afflictions “the signature wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
“Some veterans have told me that access to cannabis is the very reason they are alive today,” he said. “Others have told me that they have been able to come off of every other pharmaceutical that they have been prescribed. Certainly, this is anecdotal evidence, but it is compelling.”
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
