ACVA Committee Report

Medical Cannabis and Veterans’ Well-Being

Supplementary Report of the New Democratic Party (NDP)

The NDP agrees with the recommendations in this report, but there is a key point missing. The NDP strongly believes that neither politicians nor government bureaucrats are in any position to decide how much of any one treatment a veteran should be receiving. These decisions should be science-based, not political.

The second recommendation in this report recommends that Veterans Affairs Canada amend its policies to limit the use of high-THC cannabis.

While the NDP respects the need to limit the use of high-THC cannabis which the committee heard can negatively affect people living with a debilitating mental illness, this recommendation does nothing to address the arbitrary limit of 3g imposed by Veterans Affairs Canada. The committee heard that this change was based on the College of Family Physicians of Canada’s guidelines for the general population, not specifically on veterans with service-related illnesses and injuries. When asked about the dosage that veterans need, Dr. Celeste Thirlwell stated:

We're talking about grams of dry flower. What I am referring to is what I was trying to make a point about at the beginning of my talk. A civilian brain runs at most at 400 or 500 kilometres an hour, let's say.

    Three grams a day is fine for that, but not a military service brain or a traumatized brain. They need between five grams to eight grams at least, once they've been stabilized. The same way you have a lot of morphine post-surgery and then you wean down, in the initial stabilization phase, they need to be able to access eight grams to 10 grams regularly so they don't go into PTSD or anxiety about running out of medication and treatment.¹

The NDP disagree with the statement in this report that the change to 3g per day was justified.

The NDP strongly believe that most committee members, politicians, and government bureaucrats do not have the experience or education to make decisions limiting the treatment options available to veterans. These decisions should be exclusively in the hands of veterans’ healthcare providers. Therefore, the NDP recommends:

That Veterans Affairs Canada amend its Cannabis for Medical Purposes – Reimbursement Policy to fund the full costs of medical cannabis recommended by veterans’ healthcare providers.

The call for further research was echoed by nearly every witness. This is reflected in Recommendation 1 of the report. This research is direly needed so that veterans can receive the best treatment possible. For that research to affect the lives of veterans, the NDP recommends:

That Veterans Affairs Canada Review all policies related to medical cannabis whenever substantial, peer-reviewed research on the topic becomes available, and amend those policies as necessary based on the most up-to-date evidence.

¹ Dr. Celeste Thirlwell (Director, Sleep Wake Awareness Program), Evidence, ACVA, 27 February 2019, 1640.