OTTAWA — The military may strictly forbid marijuana use by its soldiers, but the federal government has decided to pay for medical cannabis for some veterans.

Veterans Affairs has reversed a previous ban, now saying it “may provide payment in relation to the associated costs of medically required marijuana to clients who have qualified.”

Payments can be made only to veterans licensed by Health Canada to possess medical marijuana, and who buy government-certified cannabis produced on contract by a firm in Flin Flon, Manitoba.

The policy change was approved last October, but is only now being communicated to veterans who require the product for pain management and other severe medical conditions.

About eight veterans licensed by Health Canada are having their medical marijuana bills picked up by taxpayers, said Janice Summerby, spokeswoman for Veterans Affairs.

Wow, a large North American country with legal medical marijuana coast to coast, extending their government-paid Universal Health Care coverage to pay for marijuana!  How are the Canadians dealing with the inevitable socialism and teenage heroin addiction that’s sure to result?

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This country was founded by Hemp Farmers!

In our Declaration of Independence, Jefferson declared to the world the right to live free is self-evident and given by a power higher than the government, and it was the responsibility of the government to protect those freedoms.

According to this Founding Father, the government’s only legitimate function is to protect our freedom. It exists only to prevent one person from intruding on the freedom of another.

Don't tread on our veterans!

Our government itself now intrudes on people’s freedom and Americans legitimately live in fear of our government every day.

This is a short commentary piece I’ve written in support of all veterans, but especially those who are returning home from war right now. As a retired military combat veteran of more than 20 years of service, I’m proud of you and welcome home!

United States Navy

You’ve come home at a good time; our country is currently in crisis, but the crisis is working to bring all Americans together in peaceful resolution. For those of you with PTSD, you are going to face a challenge. I know, most of you are going to say you don’t have PTSD. You’ll deny it until someday you’ll stop and say, “I’m tired of that train wreck of an incident playing over and over in my head.” Then you’ll ask for help from the VA, and they will give you opium.

United States Army

Yes, that’s correct, the Veterans Administration passes out anti-depressants and opium (in pill form) like crazy! The only problem is, they don’t make you feel better and in fact, you might just want to kill yourself before getting better.

Or, if you live in one of the states that has Medical Marijuana, you could see a qualified doctor to help you on your recovery and he might just recommend Medical Marijuana. The catch? You can’t go back to the VA.

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

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Surprise, Surprise!

The bill, proposed by conservative President Felipe Calderon, would make it legal to carry up to 5 grams (0.18 ounces) of marijuana, 500 milligrams (0.018 ounces) of cocaine and tiny quantities of other drugs such as heroin and methamphetamines.

Mexico’s Congress passed a similar proposal in 2006 but the bill was vetoed by Calderon’s predecessor Vicente Fox, under pressure from the United States, which said it would increase drug abuse, but now is worried by the drug-related violence along its border.

Mexican President Calderon was praised by U.S. President Barack Obama this month for his military assaults on cartels during a visit to the Mexican capital. President Obama pledged more soldiers to the American side of the border to hamper the flow of guns to the cartels.

The bill, which needs to be approved by the lower house, also allows Mexican states to convict small-time drug dealers, no longer making it a federal crime to peddle drugs. Drug dealers are rarely convicted in Mexico as federal courts are saturated with bigger cases and local judges cannot interfere.

Let’s face it, our prohibition created the problem in Mexico, and our Prohibition is going to destroy Mexico. As a recent military retiree, I spent more than 7 years living in South America conducting foreign internal defense and anti-narcotic or eradication missions during the 1980’s and early 1990’s. This law will greatly improve the lives of the impoverished, and will “begin to take steps in a positive direction”.

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

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Letters like this one are why I put in twelve-hour days for this cause.  “If my friend was prescribed some marijuana, and not anti-depressants, I do not think I would have found him dead, hanging from a cord in his room.” The refusal of our government to allow our troops to use safe, effective cannabis instead of gut-wrenching, energy-sapping, liver-destroying pharmaceuticals is like spitting in the face of those who pledged their lives and honor to defend the drafted-on-hemp-paper Constitution of this country.

Hello NORML,

I must begin by saying your website has a lot of great information, and made me feel more like a person, than a pothead, and I thank you for that.

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

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I get emails here at the Daily Audio Stash that make me angry at my country.  This is the story of one young Marine who served valiantly in Iraq, only to have his country toss him aside for his unpardonable sin of cannabis use.  Corporal, stories like yours are why I wake up every day fired up and ready to go fight on the front lines of this war on drugs.

I joined the Marine Corps in October, 2004 where I spent my career as an infantry machine gunner. Come January of 2008, I was a Corporal with two combat tours in Iraq under my belt, and only about nine months left on my contract. Things were about to change.

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

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