Veteran Advocates at the Front Lines of Marijuana Reform

Veteran advocacy groups are rapidly becoming one of the most powerful forces shaping the future of marijuana policy in the United States. Drawing on moral authority, lived experience, and disciplined organizing skills, veterans are reframing cannabis not as a fringe issue, but as a mainstream health and justice concern that lawmakers can’t easily ignore.

Organizations such as the Veterans Cannabis Project (VCP) argue that medical cannabis “saves lives” and that veterans deserve full, legal access. Their work blends direct lobbying on Capitol Hill with storytelling campaigns that highlight how cannabis can help manage chronic pain, PTSD, and other service-related conditions. VCP points to data showing that more than 80% of U.S. veterans support medical cannabis programs, illustrating how far opinion has shifted inside the veteran community itself.

Grassroots groups are equally influential. The Weed for Warriors Project, founded in 2014, focuses on community support and mutual aid while pushing for policy change. The group highlights stark statistics: veterans make up roughly 7% of the U.S. population yet account for about 20% of the national suicide rate, with an estimated 22 veteran suicides per day, and argues that denying access to cannabis while promoting heavy opioid use is a policy failure. By tying policy reform to suicide prevention and overdose reduction, they turn an abstract legalization debate into a concrete public-health necessity.

Traditional veterans’ institutions have also stepped into the cannabis conversation. The American Legion, one of the largest and most established veteran service organizations, passed a resolution urging the federal government to reclassify marijuana and expand medical cannabis research, specifically calling on the DEA to license production for scientific study and for Congress to remove cannabis from Schedule I. When a legacy group like the Legion adopts this stance, it signals to lawmakers that cannabis reform has moved into mainstream veteran advocacy.

These efforts are increasingly focused on federal legislation. Veteran groups have played a visible role in promoting measures such as the VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act, which would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to study cannabis for conditions like chronic pain and PTSD. Other initiatives, including safe-harbor proposals that would allow VA clinicians to recommend cannabis in legal states, are frequently backed or championed by veteran organizations that show up for hearings, meet with staffers, and provide testimony.

More recently, coalitions that include the Last Prisoner Project and Balanced Veterans Network have launched targeted campaigns to persuade Republican lawmakers to support reform, particularly around medical access and the release of veterans incarcerated for cannabis offenses. By foregrounding conservative veterans who favor reform, these campaigns erode the perception that cannabis is a strictly partisan issue and help build bipartisan paths forward.

Policy groups such as the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) increasingly treat veteran voices as central partners in state and federal campaigns, recognizing that their stories resonate with both the public and elected officials. The result is a powerful feedback loop: veteran advocates push for research, access, and de-stigma; policymakers respond with pilot bills and hearings; and each small win further normalizes cannabis as part of comprehensive veteran care.

Taken together, veteran advocacy groups are reshaping marijuana policy from the inside out—translating battlefield experience into legislative momentum, and insisting that a country that sends people to war has a responsibility to explore every safe, evidence-based tool available when they come home.