When Steve Johnstone was admitted to a psychiatric hospital his doctors were shocked by the amount of medicinal cannabis he was consuming— all paid for by the government.
“They just couldn’t understand how I was functioning,” said Steve.
For years Steve suffered chronic back pain after serving in Afghanistan.
The Department of Veterans’ Affair (DVA) accepted it was linked to his service, making him eligible for DVA funded treatment.
After seeing an ad on his phone for “free natural health”, Steve started using medicinal cannabis.
“It wasn’t gonna cost me any money. It was free delivered,” he said.
In the last three years, the amount the DVA has spent on medicinal cannabis has more than tripled.
Steve was prescribed huge amounts of cannabis, at times as high as 1220mg daily, without ever needing a face to face consultation with a doctor.
By the end of last year Steve says he was addicted to THC gummies, paranoid and suicidal, causing him to be hospitalised for months.
The day Steve was admitted, his provider lodged an application to DVA for more medicinal cannabis, stating his mental health “has been stable throughout treatment”.
DVA says it’s a funder of clinical treatment, not a regulator and that it’s up to doctors to appropriately prescribe drugs.
To discover more about for-profit companies providing taxpayer-funded care to veterans watch Defenceless on ABC iView.
#Veterans #THC #Cannabis #MedicinalCannabis #4Corners
“They just couldn’t understand how I was functioning,” said Steve.
For years Steve suffered chronic back pain after serving in Afghanistan.
The Department of Veterans’ Affair (DVA) accepted it was linked to his service, making him eligible for DVA funded treatment.
After seeing an ad on his phone for “free natural health”, Steve started using medicinal cannabis.
“It wasn’t gonna cost me any money. It was free delivered,” he said.
In the last three years, the amount the DVA has spent on medicinal cannabis has more than tripled.
Steve was prescribed huge amounts of cannabis, at times as high as 1220mg daily, without ever needing a face to face consultation with a doctor.
By the end of last year Steve says he was addicted to THC gummies, paranoid and suicidal, causing him to be hospitalised for months.
The day Steve was admitted, his provider lodged an application to DVA for more medicinal cannabis, stating his mental health “has been stable throughout treatment”.
DVA says it’s a funder of clinical treatment, not a regulator and that it’s up to doctors to appropriately prescribe drugs.
To discover more about for-profit companies providing taxpayer-funded care to veterans watch Defenceless on ABC iView.
#Veterans #THC #Cannabis #MedicinalCannabis #4Corners