‘Wild West’: Audit on veterans’ medical cannabis sparks calls for oversight, research

By Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press, September 15, 2022 —Mental-health providers and others are reacting with shock and concern after an internal government audit uncovered significant problems with Ottawa’s administration of hundreds of millions of dollars in medical marijuana for veterans.

The audit results are also spurring calls for more research into the potential benefits and risks of medical cannabis, as well as greater oversight of how the drug is administered to protect at-risk veterans and taxpayer dollars.

“I think it’s clear from this report that the current landscape of medical marijuana for veterans is not the best that it can be, not anywhere near it,” said Oliver Thorne, executive director of the B.C.-based Veterans Transition Network.

“We don’t want the Wild West. And to some degree, this report seems to indicate that that’s currently the state of affairs.”

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