VA Policy on Marijuana and Painkillers Lacks Consistency, Veterans Say

By Jeremy Schwartz

Since early 2013, Vietnam veteran Bill Williams had received daily doses of hydrocodone to help him deal with chronic leg and back pain. For more than 30 years, he has taken anti-anxiety drugs like Valium to help with the post-traumatic stress disorder he developed after a lengthy tour on a Navy submarine.

Occasionally, the 62-year-old Brackettville resident would smoke marijuana, which he said provided relief for his pain and PTSD in ways the pharmaceuticals could not. His experience with that drug, which he said also helped him sleep, mirrors that of a growing number of veterans who have turned to medical marijuana as an alternative to traditional treatments.

At first, he said, his Department of Veterans Affairs doctors tolerated his marijuana use, telling him that if it helped his symptoms he should continue. But that changed with the introduction of stricter VA policies on narcotic painkillers, the result of new Drug Enforcement Administration rules on hydrocodone and a VA push to reduce the number of patients receiving the medications.

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