Community Health & Wellness
*A thread usually breaks from where it's thinnest
Smith-Lever Act: “Serves the educational and developmental needs of communities across the United States by supporting clubs, classes, and events that help citizens keep pace with the rapid modern advances in agriculture techniques and technologies”
Hatch Act: “The purpose of Hatch Act funding is to conduct agricultural research programs at State Agricultural Experiment Stations in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Insular Areas.”
Morrill Act: “This act made it possible for states to establish public colleges funded by the development or sale of associated federal land grants.”
Post Traumatic Growth (describe what it means in this context: personal and community gardening, holistic treatment options; “ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” mentality/approach)
A Veteran 4 H program: "Head-Heart-Hands-Health", like a reintegration program to help ease the transition back into our communities from military service. To expand the programming offered via the Tucson Village Farm and 4-H for veterans all we would need to do is get the support from the Southern Arizona VA Whole Health program, our public universities, and state leaders. With public institutional support baked in, it will enhance private philanthropic outreach/solicitation. Grants from the federal government could help establish the initial boost toward sustainable/regenerative models across the state that are as close to plug and play as I think we can get. AmeriCorps is also very active at the TVF, which is another opportunity to get veterans engaged again through continued service to their communities.
"Growbots"
AI bots that help you grow stuff in the garden.
You download material into the AI program for whatever you want to train people on, and then you use it like Alexa, but in the garden (model could be expanded into other areas outside of AI growbots in the garden).
If you pair this with automated growing technology that monitors your crop, you can simultaneously see what is happening in your garden, and get real time feedback from the AI growbots with tips, tricks, or other insight that is useful in order to harvest a healthy crop.
In addition to the above information, you can plug in information from farmer's almanacs, encyclopedias and other rich sources of information then those become interactive components to a much larger immersive educational experience.
Agriculture Therapy Program Promoting Post Traumatic Growth
As it relates to the individual, gardening is a great way to engage the natural world. There are many programs geared toward assisting transitioning service members who are interested in pursuing careers in agriculture. Whether for therapy, as a profession, or hobby, gardening should be encouraged. From learning more about the medicine they are growing, to providing a way to earn a living, or by furthering their education, veterans stand to benefit greatly in this field.
Intro to VETS programming, founding, and purpose. Identify mutual points of interests for respective parties involved in this collaboration, and shared stakes/investment within our community.
Much like what has been done at the UofA with the Veterans Education and Transition Services Center/Student Veterans of America this is about expanding an accessible post traumatic growth model into the community where we can observe the results, identify gaps or positive trends, report out, and proceed/adjust fire accordingly.
There are programs operating already at the federal, state, and local level that can be tapped into, and expanded through local support and legislative attention, for instance in Tucson:SAVAHCS Whole Health Program, UofA Community Gardens, and the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. Harm reduction, and sustainability are at the heart of this. How do we go about providing real world growth opportunities for our community members? From my experience, and from meeting with others in this field over the last decade, the benefits of the types of programming identified above are significant in myriad ways.
This effort is indeed about identifying, and promoting accessible programs standing out above the rest, which could potentially lead to a beneficial expansion of sustainable services and resources for members of our community. Nationally these types of programs are picking up steam. Internationally, veterans in Israel and Australia have reported identifying positive trends in this field as well.
An example of identifying positive trends which are potential starting points include shared interests between cultures and community surrounding the culinary arts, i.e.*Tucson City of Gastronomy; UNESCO.
Post Traumatic Growth Exchange Program
Using Agriculture and Gardening as an accessible form of long-term therapy/recovery. Sharing techniques, perspectives, and examples of real world programming in this area.
Healing and the culinary arts. Healing from the inside out, how our gut biomes impact our health and wellness. Sharing local cuisines, customs, and uses of native/shared ingredients.
Suggested Initial Cannabis Specific Federal Programming/Funding
In October of 2020 I attended a meeting of the United States Cannabis Caucus, chaired by the office of Representative Earl Blumenauer. I was asked by veterans from across the country to read a list of concerns from our community to those present, along with a plea to be considered in the upcoming MORE Act being put forward for a vote. Our request fell on deaf ears, and at the following meeting I was told by Blumenauer’s office our issues would not be addressed in the MORE Act. Subsequently, I began working closely with Representative David Joyce’s office, and others.
In the time that has passed since the caucus was engaged in a meaningful manner, the approach has been fine tuned. This includes outlining remedies which, if adopted through legislation by congress, could potentially address many of the hardships currently being faced by our veteran community. Principally the reliance on pharmaceuticals, and the correlating suicide rate within our ranks. The most viable real-world pathways for these policy recommendations have been provided to the powers that be. These include identifying specific committees and departments within the government, as well as accompanying legislation which may be used as a vehicle.
-Rico
Which ones?
Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
$922 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs for Substance Use Disorder treatment/prevention.
Suggested using some of those funds to implement a harm reduction model centered on cannabis treatment, and other services/resources available through the VA’s “Whole Health” program.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides healthcare for 9,200,000 veteran enrollees, disability compensation benefits to nearly 6,000,000 veterans and survivors, pension benefits for over 357,000 veterans and survivors, life insurance for more than 5,500,000 veterans, servicemembers and their families, educational assistance for nearly 900,000 trainees, and interment of more than 130,000 veterans and eligible family members in national cemeteries. To adequately serve the nation’s veterans, VA employs more than 425,000 people, making it one of the largest Federal agencies in terms of employment.” -Source
Suggested expanding the VA’s “Choice Act” to include medical cannabis dispensaries and doctor recommendations in states where state regulated cannabis dispensaries have been established.
National Defense Authorization Act
VA–DOD Joint Venture Facilities- Training and healthcare. Tying in that veterans are federal patients under federal responsibility.
Military personnel/veterans require similar language from the HOPE Act be applied to them, which requires the attention of DoD, and adjustment to the UCMJ code pertaining to cannabis use by military personnel. Once again, if the federal scheduling of cannabis under the CSA is addressed, and whole plant cannabis is properly placed/descheduled, this is more of an administrative procedure, as opposed to a political action.
Labor, Health, Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee
Suggested expanding the Compassionate Investigational New Drug program through the Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs, so as to ensure veterans residing in states without medical cannabis dispensaries can still gain access to federally grown cannabis from the multiple sources available.
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee
Looking into the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). The President of the United States chairs the OSTP. The Vice President is a member of the NSTC.
In a perfect world, federal legislation would be passed which:
Releases to the public data collected per VA directive 1315 and its predecessors, since 2011;
Releases to the public all relevant data from the federal compassionate IND program pertaining to the safety, and efficacy of cannabis being used by the participating federal patients who have passed away, since 1976;
Provides for training and continuing education uniformly across the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) level including, but not limited to the history of cannabis medicine; the function of the endocannabinoid system; new discoveries as research is conducted; and federal/state policy in order to best uniformly integrate treatment into federal patient care;
Uniformly expands the federal Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program (IND) through the VA;
Recognizes veterans enrolled with, and receiving care from the VA as federal patients, requiring laws/policy being applied uniformly in all fifty states and territories of the U.S., reflecting the unique status of military (federal) personnel;
Provides an identifier on VA patient data cards identifying participating veterans as federal cannabis patients; eliminating threat of prosecution/incarceration while traveling within the U.S. or on federal property with their medicine;
Provides for VA to grow cannabis for veterans participating in the expanded IND program, and occupational therapy programs. Uniformly promoting home cultivation, and medicinal access to a broad variety of cannabis products, and;
Provides for a cannabis voucher system within the VA for veterans to access cannabis under individual state medical cannabis programs/dispensaries.
Charters through Congress, new Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) working in this field.
Suggested Initial State Program Template For Veterans Choosing Medical Cannabis
These recommendations are intended to provide guidance related to veterans and medical cannabis in states across the country.
The American Legion, and Veterans of Foreign Wars are hemorrhaging membership, and posts across the country are falling into disrepair and foreclosure. These need to be transitioned into members-only compassion centers for our women and men who have served their country.
Based on experience in the trenches, the following are observations/suggestions of what baseline policy veterans need states to implement:
Recognize cannabis as a viable treatment option for veterans within their borders.
Provide incentives within the cannabis space as are already offered for veterans in other state programs, such as fee waivers, job placement, and special licensing considerations.
Provide for cannabis dispensary licenses to be used by new or existing Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs)/Compassion Centers who choose to move away from alcohol sales.
Protect the ability of these VSOs/Compassion Centers to host cannabis farmer’s markets.
Protect the ability of these VSOs/Compassion Centers to give/receive cannabis donations to/for veterans in need.
A new VSO is needed so veterans can engage with each other and their community in a healthy, productive manner. This new VSO model does not involve alcohol. It implements a more conducive, harm reduction approach geared toward:
Reducing the suicide rate within the veteran community;
Reducing the dependence on pharmaceuticals within the veteran community;
Providing a safe environment for veterans, their families, and friends;
Increasing the quality of life for veterans, and their families;
Establishing new networking opportunities within the veteran community;
Identifying and perpetuating positive trends within the veteran community;
Designing metrics to monitor the utilization/effectiveness of proposed programs.
