Michigan - Free Cannabis for Vets?

I hope this actually happens! And I just wanted to preface this article with this short quote from a study.
In “PTSD Symptom Reports of Patients Evaluated for the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program” , they found a “Greater than 75% reduction in CAPS symptom scores were reported when patients were using cannabis compared to when they were not.” http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02791072.2013.873843#tabModule

Or as I once heard a Nam vet say when asked why he smoked so much cannabis, "It just makes life worth living again!"


Marijuana businesses to offer free cannabis to Michigan military veterans
https://www.mlive.com/cannabis/2022...e-cannabis-to-michigan-military-veterans.html

By Gus Burns | fburns@mlive.com

Since Anton Harb Jr. returned from Middle East battlegrounds where he fought in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005, he’s fought a different sort of battle: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

It’s not a war he fights alone.

Up to 20% of veterans who served in that military conflict have been since diagnosed with PTSD, according to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD.

Harb, with the nonprofit Hero Project USA, hopes to increase free access to something that’s helped him since his own diagnosis: marijuana.

The 40-year-old Macomb Township resident helped create the Veteran Compassion Care program, set to launch in January by offering free commercial marijuana products to 25 selected veterans with PTSD or traumatic brain injuries on a biweekly basis.

Harb didn’t use marijuana until his 30s, after it had already been legalized for medical use in Michigan. He believes it helped him both physically and emotionally and wants others to realize some of the same benefits.

Hero Project USA is creating a network of licensed dispensaries, retails stores, processors and growers that will donate time and marijuana to the project. Initial plans involve creating gift boxes of marijuana products with edibles, smokable flower, vaping products or other cannabis items that may be picked up at no charge to veterans from designated retail locations every two weeks.

At least at first, the products will be divvied uniformly to all participants.

“I want to overproduce and undersell,” Harb said of the initially small number of recipients. But it won’t stop there. Harb said once the charitable supply and logistical resources are in place, he foresees the program serving hundreds of veterans.

“With the interest that we’re having, the reality is looking that way,” he said. “I’d say 25 for proof of concept and to actually put this in place ... but we’re being inundated with emails from brands that want to participate. I see this being a much larger thing. We want this to be a statewide program.”

Harb said there are a couple barriers to marijuana use by veterans. One is cost; the other is fear.

Harb doesn’t trust the VA hospital system when it comes to marijuana, since the doctors and nurses are funded by federal sources. Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level and is designated a schedule I drug, meaning there is no acceptable medical use.

Harb said he’s seen instances when VA patients admit to using or test positive for marijuana use and have access to other necessary prescribed drugs cut off.

He wants to reduce the stigma and closeted consumption of cannabis by veterans, who are using it to treat legitimate medical needs, such as chronic pain, sleeplessness, anxiety and loss of appetite, and increase access by overcoming economic barriers some veterans face. (snipped)

Granny