Trauma Healing Centers and Marijuana for Trauma are two companies that help Canadian veterans file reimbursement claims for medical cannabis. They are not surprised at all in the dramatic increase in claims.
Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hurh started an internal program review to study the almost 12 fold increase in veterans looking to be reimbursed for their medical cannabis use over the past few years. “What we have to look at is best practices around the world; what other militaries are doing and veterans’ communities. At the end of the day, we have to look at this with science, reason and common sense,” Hurh said.
Trev Bungay is vice-president of Trauma Healing Centers, and he says that, “Now that people are finally coming out and admitting that they’re sick and they need help, whether it’s post-traumatic stress [PTSD]or chronic pain, or any other illness that can be helped with medicinal marijuana, then that’s where it’s coming from. Our position on it is we kind of expected that this [review] was going to happen in time.”
Both groups expect this rise to continue over the years, there is an issue though, since the Canadian Forces doesn’t allow it’s members to use cannabis, and in a statement they claim that treating PTSD with cannabis is something that doesn’t have enough solid proof yet. We can expect to see the trend in veterans using cannabis for PTSD to increase as the plant becomes more mainstream.