Vets support medical cannabis

Last month, Five Corners Strategies conducted a survey on behalf of the American Legion to determine military veteran households’ views on medical marijuana. The findings were overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing medical cannabis at the federal level and taking it off the Schedule I list of controlled substances in order to better research its medical uses, a stance the legion also supports. In fact, at its national convention in August, the American Legion passed a resolution that asks the federal government to allow doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs to discuss the medical uses of and recommend cannabis to patients in states where the drug is legal. Cannabis has been found to not only help with physical pain but also Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which affects veterans disproportionately over the rest of the population. Here are some other findings from the survey:

• 82 percent of veteran households said they would want to have cannabis as a legal treatment option.

• 92 percent support research into medical cannabis as treatment for mental and physical conditions, including as a possible replacement for opioid painkillers.

• 90 percent of liberals, 88 percent of conservatives and 70 percent of independents support federally legalized medical cannabis.