Veterans want more accountability and to use pot as they battle the opioid epidemic

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Veterans want more accountability and to use pot as they battle the opioid epidemic
By Allison Maass  |  7 Hours Ago
https://www.circa.com/story/2017/07/10/nation/veterans-affairs-report-by-the-office-of-special-counsel-found-in-2014-less-than-55-percent-of-long-term-opioid-treated-patients-were-receiving-drug-tests

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A recent report found the guidelines the VA had recommended to manage addiction risks when prescribing opioids had not always been followed, and though progress has been made since, some veterans think there is still a long way to go.


The Office of Special Counsel released a report earlier this month that found in 2014, less than 55 percent of VA patients prescribed long-term opioids were receiving regular urine drug tests (UDT), despite VA guidelines.

UDTs are an essential tool in managing addiction risks, according to Dr. William Becker, assistant professor at General Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine.

"I wouldn't want to be prescribing opioids without use of that tool," Becker said.

But the lack of testing came at a time when more veterans were becoming addicted to the pain killer. The number of veterans with opioid-use disorders rose by 55 percent between 2010 and 2015, totaling 68,000 veterans, or 13 percent of the total number of veterans prescribed opioids, according to PBS Frontline.

OSC ordered an investigation into the drug tests after a whistleblower reported patients were improperly prescribed narcotics at the community-based outpatient clinic in Dover, Delaware, part of the Wilmington VA Medical Center. As part of the claims, the whistleblower alleged that a veteran who was a patient at the clinic was prescribed opioids, but was not receiving the regular UDTs recommended by the VA guidelines, and had even gone years without a UDT.

The opioid crisis goes beyond just the veteran community. According to the Center for Disease Control, one in four people prescribed opioids long term will struggle with addiction.

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Chart from Veterans Affairs displaying the percentage of veterans on long-term opiod therapy who had received urine drug tests in the last year. US Department of Veterans Affairs

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And Lee is also working towards change in the VA system, and in April, he started to take action. He posted a photo on his Facebook page of him holding a clear,plastic bag, filled with over 9,800 smarties, one piece of candy for every pill he has to take in one year, to raise awareness of just how many pills veterans can be prescribed.


Veteran Joshua Lee holding a bag of smarties to represent the number of pills he is prescribed by the VA every year.  Joshua Lee

And after a trip to Colorado for his 15th anniversary with his wife, he said he tried recreational cannabis and it changed his life forever.

“It works so much better than any medication, and it’s the only reason I’m not a zombie today. You wouldn’t recognize me on my pills, believe me,” Lee said.

Lee is now advocating for medical cannabis to be an option for veterans, and is doing so through helping to start the organization Veterans Alliance for Compassionate Access, working with experts and politicians and organizing events.

“I’m not advocating medical cannabis as a cure all that’s going to magically fix someone of their opioid addiction. It takes a combination of actual work on the person’s behalf. There is no magic cure. But by combining medical cannabis with actual therapy, it is incredibly more efficient to get people off these addictive drugs and get there lives back in order, and get control of their own lives again,” Lee said.

Excerpt.  Read more at https://www.circa.com/story/2017/07/10/nation/veterans-affairs-report-by-the-office-of-special-counsel-found-in-2014-less-than-55-percent-of-long-term-opioid-treated-patients-were-receiving-drug-tests