Veterans choosing pot where accessible
Marijuana clubs, shops reduce barriers to usage
OTTAWA • When he opened a medical marijuana shop in Kingston, Ont., earlier this year, Trevor Hands had little idea who his customers would be, how much they would buy or how his business would grow simply through word of mouth. He does now. Business is booming for Hands, thanks in large part to an influx of business from a single demographic: former soldiers.
A review of Veterans Affairs Canada data on medical marijuana users, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, suggests the number of users has grown most dramatically in those parts of the country where marijuana shops and clubs cater to a local population of military veterans.
Usage rates — and the commensurate federal costs — are generally higher in those areas where the stigma and barriers to medical marijuana use have been lowered or eliminated, said Zach Walsh, a University of British Columbia psychology professor.
Marijuana clubs and shops play a key role in removing those barriers, he said.
“The reason we see higher concentrations in areas where it’s promoted is because it gives the individuals with PTSD the opportunity to find out that it works,” Walsh said.
Veterans are proving welleducated about the potential benefits of pot, said Mike Southwell, vice-president of Marijuana for Trauma, which helps clients to understand the drug and navigate the federal benefits program that pays for it.
“If a veteran tells another veteran about something that is working for disability, you can be guaranteed that they will tell a hundred other vets,” Southwell said.
It’s that kind of growth the federal government wants to get under control. The Liberals are expected to announce changes to the program in the coming weeks after years of exponential growth — and soaring costs.
This year, the program is expected to carry a price tag of $25 million.
In 2008, when the government first started covering the cost of medical marijuana, Veterans Affairs had licensed users in only five so-called “forward sortation” areas, defined by the first three characters of a postal code. By 2012, there were 50 forward sortation areas with cannabis users. Three years later, it was 565; this year, 588.
Much of the growth has been around Fredericton, N.B., and its neighbour CFB Gagetown, where soldiers regularly go for training, said Lee Windsor, deputy director at The Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick.