Criminals over Veterans

President Biden just prioritized criminals over veterans and the issue is marijuana.

This is NOT an argument for or against the legalization. I personally don’t care if people smoke pot. Some of my best friends use it and that isn’t a joke. I honestly don’t care.

Yesterday, however, the President announced his intent to pardon thousands of people convicted of crimes associated to possession and use of marijuana. These are people, whether you agree with it or not, that broke standing laws at the time of their arrest and conviction. They are, by definition, criminals. If the President sees fit to pardon them, whatever. That’s on him.

Here is the kicker.

Did you know that the Veterans Administration will NOT prescribe medicinal marijuana? And did you know they will also NOT reimburse veterans for medicinal marijuana prescribed by a doctor outside the VA? No matter the reason, the doctor, the diagnosis, or the condition, any veteran that needs medicinal marijuana has to pay for it out of pocket. Period. No exceptions.

Did you know that mental illness, specifically including PTSD, is the leading cause of suicide among veterans? You know, those 22 PER DAY veteran suicides everyone talks about. Did you know there is a significant portion of the medical community that firmly believes the use of medicinal marijuana is a viable treatment for PTSD? Go back and read that again. There is a viable treatment for PTSD that is one of the leading causes of veteran suicide and the government WON’T pay for it. Why? Because marijuana is illegal in any fashion according to the federal government.

So, instead of using his executive powers to authorize marijuana being prescribed to veterans to help treat PTSD (and other conditions) and help prevent veteran suicide, President Biden prioritized giving pardons to people who BROKE THE LAW. Even if the President does direct the VA to prescribe and pay for medicinal marijuana for veterans, he will have done it AFTER he announced his plan to pardon criminals. AFTER. That means one was prioritized over the other.

For everyone who says they support veterans, wears a t-shirt that says “22 per day”, or swears the administration makes veterans a priority, you need to take note of what just happened. He made CRIMINALS a priority over VETERANS.

Write your Congressman. Ask them why. Demand an answer from the President. Ask him why.

Ask them all why when it comes to addressing marijuana and advocating to help people, they prioritized criminals over veterans.