Veterans with PTSD to get free cannabis in Michigan

A year ago, the United States lost thousands of veterans to suicide. With post-traumatic stress disorder affecting up to 20% of combat veterans and crises of unavoidable proportions facing veterans, such as homelessness, lack of employment and medical care, the soaring suicide rate comes as no surprise.

Anton Harb Jr.Harb Jr., a veteran of the Operation Iraqi Freedom, decided to address the staggering statistics from the VA's National Center for PTSD. In partnership with the NGO Hero Project USA, Harb will distribute free cannabis to veterans in need.

Military veterans are not able to access medical marijuana MMJ via the VA due to its Schedule I classification, despite numerous authoritative studies showing that cannabis can help treat PTSD. The vets in state-legal MMJ programs will not be denied VA benefits.

As part of The Veteran Compassion Care Program, 25 veterans with PTSD or traumatic brain injuries will receive free commercial marijuana products every two weeks, according to Michigan's MLive.

With the interest we're having, the reality is looking that way, said Harb. I'd say 25 for proof of concept and actually put this in place, but we're inundated with emails from brands that want to participate. I think this is a much larger thing. We want this to be a statewide program. The program will start in January in Michigan. Hero Project USA set up a network of authorized dispensaries, retail establishments, processors and farmers who are behind the effort.

The Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency MRA announced last year that it plans to fund two major medical cannabis research projects to the tune of $20 million with tax revenue from the state's recreational marijuana program.