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Improving U.S. Military Veterans Quality Of Life Through Cannabis

Improving U.S. military veterans quality of life through cannabis with David White, Communications Director of Veterans Cannabis Project. VCP is dedicated to improving US military veterans quality of life through cannabis. They empower veterans to live healthy, fulfilling lives, while advocating on their behalf for unrestricted and supported access to medical cannabis through the VA just like any other medicine.

David is focused on helping U.S. veterans improve their quality of life through access to cannabis. He talks about his role there and his day to day, as well as what’s going on with the organization. We go through what’s going on with Veterans in the U.S. and why they need cannabis to address their health concerns.

 

Transcription:

 

Get informed get inspired and get connected.

Hello, thanks for tuning into another episode of NCIA’s cannabis industry voice on cannabis Radio, I’m your host Bethany Moore, the communications Project Manager at the National cannabis industry association. Today my guest is David White, he’s the Communications Director of the Veteran’s cannabis project.

VCP is dedicated to improving United States military veterans’ quality of life through the opportunity of cannabis, the empower veterans to live healthy, fulfilling lives while advocating on their behalf for unrestricted and supported access to medical cannabis through the VA. just like any other medicine.

Thanks so much for being on the show today, David.

Well, thank you, Berthany, I’m pleased to join you in here today for your podcast wonderful, so let’s learn more about you First, let’s learn more about your background, what kinds of work you did in the past before finding yourself contributing your time to the cannabis movement for veterans.

Sure, my career has been focused primarily on public affairs advocacy efforts and working on Capitol Hill might have started out working at the Republican National Committee in their research department, and then spent about four years on Capitol Hill working in both the government, reform and Oversight Committee as well, as for Congress from Nancy Johnson as a press secretary and legislative assistant, where I started to get involved in healthcare issues, and then from thereleft Cap Hill and went to Edelman, which is now the largest public relations firm world, and help run public affairs and image campaigns for Fortune 500 corporations, and in street trade associations, companies, and trade groups like the American Health Care Association. And so our key aircraft and Walmart, the vast maracas a real wide variety of clients.

And then from there, I started my own consultancy, which continue today but didn’t really get involved with Veterans issues until I went to help out the presidential transition team and served as a media advisor, to Dr. David Chen, during his senate confirmation process, where I really got to see first-hand some of the challenges that the Department of Veterans Affairs was facing and particularly what America’s veterans were facing a lot of difficulties that they were experiencing. Returning from combat and I, I… A lot of the challenges and providing them the care they really need and deserve.

Wow, yeah, that’s quite a background. So you’re still based in Washington, DC, running around the beltway is that right?

I am, yeah, I still a creature of the swamp and fortunately… But it does provide for opportunities, to get deeply involved in advocacy for both for veterans and more broadly for cannabis reform, and those are two areas I’m very passionate about and glad that I’ve found a way to bring to them together to pursue them. Joint lying absolutely. And if you can stand the swamp of DC, it is a really great place to have access to all sorts of organizations, and government agencies and so on. And I’m glad I get to go back once a year, for MCI is lobby days in the very least, and see mild stomping grounds before I got wise away here to Denver.

So bad out here though, for sure. No, I can imagine. Love Colorado, yeah, yeah, and thanks for your work with veterans. My dad is also a Vietnam vet, former Marine, as well and he’s got his own stories of coming back from the war for sure.

So veterans need support for various things, including when they return from combat. There’s health issues and PTSD issues and some of these veterans would really like to use cannabis or find that it helps them. So was that realization sort of how you got involved in the cannabis industry, and movement through that intersection of veterans wanting to improve their quality of life?

It really was doing some work with the secretary chicken during his confirmation process. I got to really get a sense for how serious some of the ailments where they were afflicting our veterans the disproportionate rates of depression and anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain. When you look at the statistics, you can really see that veterans are truly in crisis in Department of Veterans Affairs themselves recognizes the 20% of the 27 million in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will experience Pete.

We see veterans coping with chronic pain and PTSD, at twice the rate of average Americans and really, 60% of veterans returning from combat suffer from product pain. So that’s an area where, obviously, with the opioid epidemic and the VA looking to try to address these problems by prescribing of the typical combat cocktail of drugs, we’ve seen that veterans are twice as likely as average Americans to die from accidental opioid overdoses.

So that’s one area in which both significant research, but certainly anecdotally we hear all the time that medical cannabis can be a far safer and even more effective alternative to a lot of the prescription pills that our veterans are too often prescribed as just a quick and easy solution in absolutely, yeah, that opioid crisis is something that NCIA certainly had on our radar. And a few years ago, we put a white paper out about cannabis being a possible solution for some people who would like to reduce the amount of opioids or phase out opioids from their life as well, if anybody wants to download that white paper it’s pretty easy to find. It’s at the cannabis industry org cannabis and opioids. So I encourage folks to download that and learn more about about how cannabis is being used to ease the opioid crisis.

Yeah, so here we are now, you’re running the veteran’s cannabis project team as the communications director and the organization focuses on helping veterans improve their quality of life through access, to cannabis. So yeah, tell me a bit more about your role there and your day-to-day. And what kinds of programs and activities are happening with the organization?

Sure, a lot of what we focus on is trying to bring veterans across the country to Capitol Hill to meet with their legislators to really provide the power of personal stories, so that they can hear from their constituents and see the really kind of life-changing benefits and positive impact that medical cannabis is had for a number of them, but then also get into a discussion of a lot of hurdles at many veterans face veterans are in a particularly difficult situation, particularly the nine million veterans who rely on the Department of Veterans Affairs for their healthcare since cannabis is scheduled as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, the Department of Veterans Affairs really won’t utilize it as a treatment option. They are barred by federal law from having physicians recommended from filling out any paperwork and depending upon which doctor you see they may not even discuss it with you. And a lot of the lingering stigma unfortunately read a lot of veterans to be reluctant to even talk to their doctor if they are using medical cannabis. One interesting stat that the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans of America found in one of the recent annual surveys was that one in five of its members uses medical cannabis but fewer than one-third of those users talk to their doctor about it, even when it affected use of other medications, so that stigma loan then… And some of the reluctance and fear, it creates some on veterans effectively denies them the benefit of the healthcare that they’ve really earned through their service and should be getting through the DA. So it’s another one of those areas that’s extremely frustrating and something that needs to change.

Yeah, for sure. And I heard something I’m not sure if it’s true, maybe you know that if a veteran getting medical care through the VA is tested for the presence of substances in their body and cannabis is found, they can lose their VA benefits, or something along those lines, do you know anything like that?

There is concern about that, there is a directive that the VA issue that basically says that they can’t be denied benefits, but that’s not been cat-aiding to law.

And so still there’s a lot of fear about that. And the other thing is concern about if they do test positive, for Canada, use that in their medical chart they will be labeled as having a Cannabis Use Disorder. So again, it’s another area of concern for veterans and something that for some of them may prevent them from pursuing healthcare and treatment that they really need. So it’s an area of stigma and change that we’ve gotta reform.

Absolutely agree and thank you so much for getting those veterans out to the Hill to meet with members of Congress and their staff to tell their stories in in the similar way that “ncia does with industry leaders and operators through our annual lobby days as well, that it really being a human being and being able to tell your story to a member of Congress is more valuable than a lobbyist, even though the lobbying is important also it is so important to get those veterans out there to tell their personal stories. So hopefully, we’re changing the hearts and minds one day at a time, out there in capital health.

We are going to take a quick commercial break, here, but we’ll be right back to chat more with David White, the Communications Director of Veterans cannabis project. So, stay tuned will be right back.

 

Alright. We’re back on NCIA’s cannabis industry voice on cannabis radio, and we’re talking with David White from the Veteran’s cannabis project. So let’s talk more we’ve already done the overview, the 10,000 foot view of what’s going on with veterans, but let’s really take a deeper dive about what’s going on with veterans in the US, and why they need cannabis to address their many various health concerns depending on who the veteran is as well. As I mentioned earlier, veterans are really in crisis as one research shows that the chronic pain that they experience and PTSD are two major contributing factors to veteran suicides and we’re seeing on average 20 veterans committing suicide every day.

And So I… You look at those facts and you look at some of these statistics, and it really is quite frankly a national disgrace, if not.

And so we’re hoping, again, through some of these hill visits, potential capital Policy Forum that we’re looking to do in the fall, some of the grassroots networks that were building across the country that we can really raise awareness of this crisis and how medical cannabis can help potentially address a number of these ailments, and really saved a number of lives.

We hear every day from veterans to credit medical cannabis with.

I’m improving their quality of life or even saving their lives, and so it’s really a powerful testament to the healing properties of cannabis and the promises it holds for veterans and a better option than just hitting the alcohol bottles or self-medicating with whatever you can get your hands on. We obviously know by now that cannabis is far safer than alcohol, and various other substances, opioids, so we really gotta get this research to underscore what we know about cannabis and what we know from the personal stories of those who do use it. So getting that scientific research here in the US to prove that I think is gonna be pretty crucial, in this big picture.

So we don’t have enough research here in the US, we’re trying to circle around with Congress about how to make that happen.

Let’s talk a bit more about the challenges veterans face getting access. We’ve already talked about doctors not even being allowed to discuss it with them.

So where does that put veterans who really wanna use cannabis for what they need? Well, it leaves them obviously a disadvantage if they rely on the VA for their healthcare because they can’t go to the VA and talk to their provider about filling out paperwork and getting a recommendation even in states where it’s legal. So first and foremost, that’s one area that we’re looking to advocate and make change. Your point about research though is also critically important. We have a fair amount of data that shows the positive impact the medical cannabis can have but much more research is needed and again, because of the outdated policy and the mis-categorization of cannabis as a Schedule One substance, it makes research virtually impossible.

And so, we’re now preventing doctors and scientists from doing the content of research we need to have a better understanding of how medical cannabis can best help our veterans and other patients as well. So that’s really another core aspect of what we’re educating for in addition to providing veterans legal access to medical cannabis through the VA, right? So De-scheduling is really probably the smartest solution here for various reasons. Even taking it down to schedule to really wouldn’t do much on a lot of levels. So, I NCA advocates for completely de-scheduling off of the Controlled Substances list for sure and allowing it to continue to be an opportunity for small businesses. And I think veterans are also among a demographic of people who may want to work in the cannabis industry, if they have that ability. Do you think think that’s true?

They absolutely are. That’s another group of people that we hear from on a regular basis, it’s veterans looking to get into the industry and it’s something that our organization is looking longer term, and to being more involved in, it’s kind of to essentially serve as a jobs clearing house in recruitment center, both for veterans and employers.

There is as most of your membership is well aware. The employment opportunities, if we realize full legalization are just tremendous, I think I saw a stat for me. The Frontier data, they’re not long ago that said the industry would create 65-4000 jobs within eight years. And veterans, I think in particular are well-situated to be great employees in the industry, they really understand teamwork? And attention to detail and tend to be very highly responsible employees, and so it really could be an incredible match, and something that I think we need to pursue. Bo for veterans, and the industry, but that then gets back to veterans and some of the challenges they’ve faced, we’ve seen veterans who work in the industry be denied home loans for instance, and so there’s some concern and reluctance on veterans about getting into the industry. Fortunately, that’s beginning to be addressed in Congress. In fact, this week there’s amendment language by Congresswoman Katherine Clark Massachusetts, that would add language to the National Defense Authorization Act, to effectively in the practice of denying home loan benefits to veterans that work in the industry.

Oh, yeah, all that article. Yeah, that’s good news, yeah, no, it’s great news, and so… Yeah, yeah, so we’re making some progress in Congress. Is recognizing that a lot of the current policies and laws just don’t make sense, and so, we’re optimistic that it’s really a matter of time before there’s really critical mass that tips this over towards real progress, particularly in the Senate, which is we’re seeing the most resistance to make comprehensive reforms to federal cannabis law.

Yeah, we have some hemp farmers from Kentucky, that we’re hoping can soften Mitch McConnell up a little bit on our issues, so we’re… Yeah, the Senate is a little bit of a tough cookie, for the moment, but we’re pretty optimistic in the meantime.

Yeah, I was just thinking there’s a couple of NCIA members that I know for a fact our veterans and war, some of their military uniform pieces to lobby days. So shout out to Tom Mondo and at T-N-Fontana. Thank you so much for your service and being in the cannabis industry.

Are there any other bills or pieces of legislation in general, that veterans cannabis project is supporting right now, that we should be aware of?

There are few, there’s the Veterans Equal Access Act, which would effectively authorize the Department of Veterans Affairs to allow their providers, their doctors and other Hecate providers to make recommendations for veterans regarding participation in state Marijuana program. So if you have a VA facility, and a vet in a state where you have a legal medical program they would be allowed to both make the recommendation, and fill out to pay people work for that veteran.

So that’s high on our priority list, we also are supporting actively the VA medical cannabis Research Act of 2019, which would direct the VA to carry out clinical trials on the effects of cannabis focusing really on chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder.

That’d be a game changer. That it was great, it really could. And the VA is really uniquely situated to conduct this kind of research. They have some of the best researchers in the world and obviously deal with a patient population that’s disproportionately affected by chronic pain and PTSD. So, we’re optimistic that that’s gonna move forward hopefully in near future. And it’s something that veterans desperately need.

And then the other thing is really a bill sponsored by Congressman Greg via Florida. It’s Veterans Canada use for safe healing act he… And so effectively, confine law protection of veterans benefits, that are administered by the VA, so that there really is no concern that if you’re a medical candidate patient that you would jeopardize or potentially lose any of your earned benefits.

Got it, got it. That makes a lot of sense, yes. Looking forward to seeing all of those move forward, get co-sponsorship and hopefully we can see… See this Congress move, move these bills along in Capitol Hill.

Well, we have to jump to a commercial break really quick, but when we come back I believe you may have some testimonials from some actual real-life veterans about their relationship with cannabis that would be great to hear, so absolutely awesome. Okay, so we’re gonna take our last commercial break and we’ll be right back so stay tuned.

Alright, we’re back and we’re wrapping up our interview with David White from the Veteran’s cannabis project here on NCIA’s cannabis industry voice, so thanks for breaking down all the issues surrounding veterans and their struggle and difficulty getting access to cannabis for the issues that they’re dealing with, after coming home.

So I’m sure there’s some personal stories from working with these veterans about how cannabis has helped them. I’d love for you to share with our audience.

Sure, I’d love to a sample. Just a few of the veterans who have written into us and share their first name, not to give the way their identity to perfect or privacy, but for example, we heard from an army veteran, began in Sweden in Maine said I suffered a L1 compression burst fracture in the army and now fused from 2103, which is a significant portion of her spine the size chronic back pain, I started suffering from PTSD, neuropathy chronic sleep impairment, and migrants medical cannabis helps with all of these sides all of these effects it has also helped get me off. Opioids value in muscle relaxes and several other medications due to back injury.

Another one is Jennifer from III Gilbert, Arizona, rather who’s an Air Force veteran says, “I use medical cannabis daily. I was being prescribed 600 pills a month through over three years in the VA consuming 480 oxycodone in 201 days before ending all plug and transitioning to medical cannabis. I have regained my sense of self-quality of life and spirit back. I have been off all pills since mid-2016 and haven’t looked back late. Full story.

It is, it’s just an incredible… The difference it makes, and one last one, Aaron from Atlanta, Georgia, is a marine core veteran. Said I’m a veteran, and I use medical Canada to help with my PTSD and pain management. I have encountered several legal obstacles here in Atlanta. I have no legal access to something that helps my life tremendously. I don’t know what I would do without it. It works 10 times better than the MIDS provided by VA, so those… Yeah, if you some sense of really the personal stories of those who benefit from medical Canada and some of the challenges and again I think provides very powerful compelling personal stories when you have veterans as messengers for cannabis reform at the fetal level. And so it’s in addition to helping veterans, I think it’s also proven to be very helpful, for the calls overall to have them out front and carrying a message of the need to reform our federal law.

Absolutely, yes, cannabis is impacting positively the lives of so many kinds, different groups, different demographics of people.

Yeah, it’s really great, thank you for sharing those stories and thanks to the veterans that shared the stories.

So just to change gears just a little bit here before we wrap up the show.

There is a lot of talk about how CBD is the New Black, the new pink, everyone’s talking about their CBDs and you can get some kind of CBD from gas stations now, apparently, and it’s showing up on shelves, in all kinds of different health and hygiene products. So I think for people who may be aren’t ready to go into the full spectrum cannabis that includes THC and all the other cannabinoids, they are interested in a little bit of this hemp-derived CBD possibility, although the FDA hasn’t come in and said, We can put it at any food or anything like that, but it is interesting and I think there’s some hopefulness. There in our own Director of Public Policy Andrew Kline helped collect testimonies and we put our own statement together, and we submitted that to the FDA, when they put a call out for recommendations. So even though this is probably going to be a slow process, over the next couple of years before regulations get rolled out, it is… I’m optimistic that this is a stepping stone to get full cannabis-legalization-so we’ll see how that goes. What are your thoughts on that?

Well, I think it’s certainly a step in the right direction. I think seeing that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was on board, at least with him at this point, shows that we’re heading in the right direction. And so I think we have to wait and see where that goes, but I’m encouraged by it.

Same, same. Well, we all in waiting in this boat together, and we are indeed yeah, well, as we’re wrapping up the show here, I don’t know if you’re gonna be able to make it to San Jose, later this month, we are hosting our 6th annual cannabis business Summit, and Expo July 22 through 24th in San Jose. I’m really looking forward to it. The website to register is cannabis business Summit, dot com, and there’s also some great workshops, and tours and continuing education opportunities for those who attend as well. So if you have not gotten your tickets now would be a great time.

And I really wanna thank you for being on the show, and telling us what’s going on at your organization, as NCIA is proud to have partnerships and we have an allied associations program, and I think it’s important for all of us to keep focusing on the long-term goal… And we do that through various ways, through your organization, focusing on telling the stories of veteran through the, the need minority cannabis business association focusing on creating equity social equity in the cannabis industry, and then NCIA working on these federal pushes for scheduling and safe banking and fair tax codes. There’s so many issues and cannabis is such a big plant and affects our lives in so many ways.

So I just wanna say thank you, thank you, for the work you’re doing, thank you for the work, everyone that veteran’s cannabis project is doing and keep up the good work, and you’re always welcome to join us at our conferences or our regional networking events, the cannabis caucuses in the industry, socials which are a great way to get connected, get informed and get inspired and hearing stories about veterans who are improving their lives through cannabis is definitely in that inspiring category.

But thank you, Bethany, I greatly appreciate that and appreciate all NCIA does. To advocate for the industry, and look forward to working together further with you in the future.

Thank you, so much. And where can people find out more information about veterans cannabis project?

They can or… Website is www vets CP org that’s vets CP dot org. You can learn more about what we’re doing and explore potential partnerships with us, we’re always looking to team up with people in the industry for either event sponsorships, or other activities that we’re doing, so would encourage your members to visit and look for ways to work together.

Wonderful, alright, thanks again for being on the show and thanks everybody for tuning into another episode of NCIA’s cannabis industry voice until next time