Colorado group gives free marijuana to vets

A Denver-based non-profit gave hundreds of veterans free marijuana last weekend. The organization, called Operation Grow4Vets, hosted the event as part of its statewide effort to get marijuana into the hands of veterans suffering from chronic pain and anxiety.

The organization’s founder, Roger Martin, also a veteran, said he wants to help veterans get off narcotics prescribed by doctors for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain from field injuries. Operation Grow4Vets’ website calls marijuana a “safe alternative to deadly drug cocktails given to our heroes.”

But critics say the possible side effects of marijuana, including paranoia and further addiction, compound the problems for vets and are detrimental to recovery.

Operation Grow4Vets hosted Saturday’s event, the Denver Cannabis Giveaway, at a local Quality Inn. About 400 veterans attended the event for free, and each was given about $200 dollars in free products, including edibles, tinctures, buds, and equipment to help vets grown their own marijuana.

Giving away marijuana to someone 21 or older is legal in Colorado because of Colorado’s recreational marijuana laws passed by referendum in November 2012. Operation Grow4Vets requires eligible veterans to show their Veterans Administration ID card and to be receiving treatment for a serious condition.

Earlier this year, the Colorado legislature voted down HB 1364 that would have allowed doctors in Colorado to prescribe medical marijuana for PTSD. Opponents of the bill argued there is not enough research to determine whether medical marijuana is an effective treatment for the condition.

The number of U.S. veterans taking painkillers has skyrocketed in the last decade. From 2001 to 2009, the number of pain prescriptions written by military doctors quadrupled. U.S. combat veterans are prescribed narcotics three times more than civilians, according to a military research report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s JAMA Internal Medicine this past summer.

Once they are on prescribed opiates, many veterans find it hard to stop taking them. Prescription drug abuse among military personal doubled from 2002 to 2005 and tripled from 2005 to 2008, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Research shows substance abuse in veterans is a growing problem with tragic consequences. In 2009, almost one-third of veteran suicides involved prescription drugs.

Critics say Operation Grow4Vets is irresponsibly giving vets access to marijuana without adequate testing and research about whether it is actually a better alternative to prescribed medications. Marijuana can cause paranoia, among other side effects, according to Bob Doyle of the Colorado Smart Approaches to Marijuana Coalition.

“Obviously things that we would not want somebody with PTSD to be experiencing,” Doyle said.

Operation Grow4Vets plans to host a Cannabis Giveaway in Colorado Springs this weekend. They are also launching an initiative called Save 1,000 Vets, hoping to provide 1,000 veterans with a free monthly supply of marijuana products.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.