Recent Survey Finds That Most Veterans Believe That the Department of Veterans Affairs Should Offer Medical Cannabis Treatment

A recent survey conducted by non-profit group, Mission Roll Call, called the “2025 VA Cuts & Services Survey” (1) found that military veterans and their family members believe that the “Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) should provide medical cannabis treatment to eligible patients,” (2).

The survey consisted of approximately 2,000 veterans and their family members (1,2). 95% of survey respondents were a veteran or family member of a veteran and included responses from all 50 states in the US (1). According to survey results, 57% of respondents felt that they supported the VA to provide medical cannabis as a treatment option. 27% of respondents supported psychedelics, for example MDMA and psilocybin, as treatments the VA should support and 17% believed the VA should support Ketamine as another form of treatment for eligible patients (1,2).

Norml (2), stated that “Under federal law, VA-affiliated doctors are forbidden from authorizing veterans to use medical cannabis, even if they live in jurisdictions where the substance is legal.”

A 2025 survey published in Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health (3,4) reported that 40% of veterans who suffer from chronic pain, utilize cannabis to treat the symptoms caused from the condition. Norml (3) mentioned that the study authors suggested that the data could be “under-reported” due to the VA’s stance against medical cannabis.

In 2023, a survey’s data was published in Clinical Therapeutics (5,6) and found that 91% of military veteran respondents said that medical cannabis helped improve their quality of life. “Many of the respondents reported that medicinal cannabis treatment helped them to experience a greater quality of life, fewer psychological symptoms, fewer physical symptoms, and to use less alcohol, fewer medications, less tobacco, and fewer opioids,” authors concluded (5,6). “The present findings indicate that medicinal cannabis can potentially play a harm-reduction role, helping veterans to use fewer pharmaceutical medications and other substances. … These findings should inform clinicians who work with the veteran population, as cannabis may be an effective means of helping veterans.”

Medical cannabis is not a recommended treatment option allowed to be recommended by VA healthcare professions (2). As more support grows for the plant, hopefully this will be able to change so that veteran patients may have an alternative treatment option to current methods.

References

1. Concern among veterans puts secretary Collins on a mission to explain the VA overhaul https://missionrollcall.org/veteran-voices/articles/concern-among-veterans-puts-secretary-collins-on-a-mission-to-explain-the-va-overhaul/ (accessed May 22, 2025).
2. Norml. Most veterans say Feds should provide medical cannabis services https://norml.org/news/2025/05/22/survey-most-veterans-say-feds-should-provide-medical-cannabis-services/ (accessed May 22, 2025).
3. Norml. Survey: Half of Military Veterans Use Cannabis for Pain Relief https://norml.org/news/2025/03/13/survey-nearly-half-of-military-veterans-use-cannabis-for-pain-relief/ (accessed May 22, 2025).
4. Seal, Karen H et al. “Natural Product Use for Chronic Pain: A New Survey of Patterns of Use, Beliefs, Concerns, and Disclosure to Providers.” Global advances in integrative medicine and health vol. 14 27536130251320101. 27 Feb. 2025, doi:10.1177/27536130251320101
5. Norml. Survey: Veterans Report Improved Quality of Life, Reduced Use of Prescription Medications Following Medical Cannabis https://norml.org/news/2023/07/13/survey-veterans-report-improved-quality-of-life-reduced-use-of-prescription-medications-following-medical-cannabis/ (accessed May 22, 2025).
6. McNabb M, Durante KA, Trocchio S, et al. Self-reported Medicinal Cannabis Use as an Alternative to Prescription and Over-the-counter Medication Use Among US Military Veterans. Clin Ther. 2023;45(6):562-577. doi:10.1016/j.clinthera.2023.04.003