Ottawa has lost control of veterans’ medical marijuana program, audit finds
Global News
The audit's results come amid an explosion in the number of veterans seeking reimbursement for their medical pot, from around 100 in 2014 to more than 18,000 last year.
An internal audit by Veterans Affairs Canada suggests Ottawa has all but lost control as it shells out hundreds of millions of dollars for veterans’ medical marijuana each year without proper oversight, direction or evidence of health benefits.
Quietly published this week, the audit’s results come amid an explosion in the number of veterans seeking reimbursement for their medical pot, from around 100 in 2014 to more than 18,000 last year — with no end to the surge in sight.
The result: Veterans Affairs spent more than $150 million on medical marijuana last year — more than on all other prescription drugs combined. And that number is expected to grow to $200 million this year and $300 million by 2025-26.
Yet even as demand has grown exponentially, auditors found a continuing paucity of research about the medical benefits — and risks — of veterans using cannabis, especially those struggling with psychological trauma.
This has coincided with a lack of direction and control over who can get medical marijuana, what conditions the drug is being prescribed for, and how veterans are getting authorization for their CMP — cannabis for medical purposes.
“VAC has taken steps to operationalize its policy to provide veterans with access to reimbursement for their CMP treatment,” the audit reads. “However, there remain serious gaps in internal controls in the areas of veteran health and program management.”
Veterans Affairs started reimbursing a small number of former military personnel for their medical cannabis in 2008, at which point the approvals were granted on an extremely limited basis and with the approval of a medical specialist.
The move followed a series of court decisions more than 20 years ago that first allowed a legal exemption from criminal prosecution for the consumption of medical marijuana.
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