Because medical marijuana is not federally approved, access for veterans is an issue nationwide, including in Nevada's 2nd Congressional District.
Reno Public Radio’s Noah Glick reports.
As it stands, veterans getting care at VA facilities are unable to discuss medical marijuana treatment with their doctors, even in states where it’s legal. If interested, they must go outside the VA system.
This issue was looked at by Congress this year but ultimately nothing was passed.
During a recent debate on KRNV’s Nevada Newsmakers, Incumbent Republican Mark Amodei said he does support medical marijuana for veterans.
“But the caveat is that it needs to be titrated,” he said. “So if there’s a use for it, then fine. Use it for that. But let’s not be handing people dime bags and telling them to spark up to smoke their medicine.”
“What do you mean specifically by titrate?” moderator Ray Hagar asked.
“That means you turn it into a pill,” Amodei replied.
Amodei’s Democratic challenger, Chip Evans said he supports any type of medicinal marijuana for veterans.
“There are people coming back from Afghanistan and they’re seeking treatment. And they’re being denied marijuana,” Evans said. “And then they go talk with their brothers at the VFW hall, the Vietnam vet that says, ‘Hey this works for a whole rash of things.’ So we should make it legal and available to our veterans in whatever form they choose.”
Amodei has served as representative for District 2 since 2011. This is the first time Evans, the former Washoe Democratic Party chair, is running for political office.