It's Time for Congress to Pass the CARERS Act

Take Action: Veterans deserve access to medical marijuana

Medical marijuana has helped veterans suffering from conditions such as chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. However, Veterans Affairs (V.A.) doctors are banned from submitting paperwork for or recommending their veteran patients’ use of medical marijuana. And they can’t even offer their medical opinion to patients who use it legally under state law.

We need to change this cruel policy. Tell Congress to support the CARERS Act to end the federal war on medical marijuana and give veterans equal access to this medicine.

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Your Message

Subject Get the Justice Department out of Veterans Healthcare

Dear Member of Congress,

Message Body

On this Veterans Day, I am writing to urge you to support and cosponsor the CARERS Act (S.1374 / H.R.2920), vital legislation introduced by a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives. The CARERS Act will end federal prohibition of medical marijuana, let states set their own policy, remove barriers to federal marijuana research and finally allow veterans to receive recommendations for medical marijuana with Veterans’ Affairs physicians where it is legal.

And as medical marijuana comes under attack from Jeff Sessions, the CARERS Act is more essential than ever because it would protect medical marijuana from federal interference and prosecution in the states that have legalized it.

Currently, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) specifically prohibits its medical providers from completing forms brought by their patients seeking recommendations or opinions regarding participation in a state medical marijuana program. The CARERS Act would authorize VA physicians and other health care providers to provide recommendations and opinions regarding the use of medical marijuana to veterans who live in medical marijuana states.

A recent national study of more than 140,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with both pain and mental health diagnoses found they were significantly more likely to receive opioids for pain, to engage in high risk opioid use, and to be more susceptible to adverse outcomes, including overdose. Marijuana is a safe and effective alternative for pain management. It is unlikely to produce physiological dependence, impossible to result in an overdose, and prescribing it in place of frequently-abused opioids may reduce mortality rates.

Veterans have served our country valiantly, so the least we can do is provide them with access to the medicine they require. I hope you will support the CARERS Act. The time is now for Congress to pass this legislation to protect patients, providers, and veterans. Thank you.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]
[Your Address]

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