GALLEGO
📣 Introduction: Why We Sent This to Senator Gallego
At the International Veterans Leadership Committee (IVLC), we believe veterans have earned more than thank-you-for-your-service platitudes. We’ve earned a seat at the table—especially when it comes to decisions about our health, our healing, and our future.
On August 3, 2025, we delivered this formal brief to Senator Ruben Gallego’s office. As a Marine combat veteran and long-time advocate for veterans’ rights, Senator Gallego has consistently voiced support for policies that matter to us. But support isn’t enough. We need policy, protection, and partnership—rooted in lived truth.
This isn’t just a memo. Stars & Gripes is a call for narrative justice.
As Congress debates whether VA doctors should be allowed to recommend cannabis—a decision still hamstrung by outdated federal policy—we’re here to say:
Veterans aren’t waiting. We’ve already moved forward.
We use cannabis. We heal with it. We’ve risked reputations, careers, and benefits to tell the truth about it. And now, we’re demanding our voices be heard in the halls of power—not filtered through institutions that have historically silenced us.
What follows is the exact brief delivered to Senator Gallego’s team. It outlines why this moment matters, what we’re asking for, and who we are.
This is how we lead: with transparency, strategy, and scars turned into testimony.
📜 Read it. Share it. Send it to your rep.
This isn’t just a letter—it’s a battle cry.
PURPOSE OF THE DOCUMENT
This memo accompanies the IVLC blog post titled “Stars & Gripes,” which has been shared directly with key members of Senator Gallego’s team. It offers a veteran’s perspective on the current crossroads of federal cannabis policy, VA reform, and narrative justice. This brief serves to reinforce that message with policy context and a formal request for engagement.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
The House of Representatives recently passed an amendment to the FY2026 VA Appropriations bill that would—for the first time—allow VA physicians to recommend cannabis to veterans in states where it is legal. This is more than a policy shift. It is a moral threshold.
For years, veterans have been the test subjects of America’s contradictory drug policies. Many have been punished, silenced, or pathologized for choosing cannabis over harmful pharmaceuticals—especially within the VA system. The IVLC and allied networks have documented the stories, the whistleblowers, and the policy failures.
"Stars & Gripes" frames this moment as a narrative inflection point. We are witnessing the slow collapse of institutional gaslighting around medical cannabis—and veterans are leading that reckoning.
This isn’t a partisan issue. It’s a matter of post-traumatic growth, bodily autonomy, and the right to tell our own stories—not have them co-opted by institutions seeking funding, power, or PR.
WHAT WE’RE ASKING
That Senator Gallego’s team read and acknowledge the Stars & Gripes blog post as a contribution to the policy conversation on veterans and cannabis.
That your office consider a formal briefing with the IVLC, virtually or in-person, to understand our legislative priorities and the stories behind them.
That the Senator continue championing legislative efforts to dismantle barriers for veterans seeking medical cannabis, especially within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
That Gallego’s team uplift and engage with veteran-authored media, especially when it surfaces hard truths, historical precedent, and grounded policy vision.
That Arizona remain a front line in veteran-centered, regenerative healthcare reform—with Gallego’s office as a willing partner in that leadership.
ABOUT IVLC / About The Author
The International Veterans Leadership Committee (IVLC) is a coalition of combat veterans, allied citizens, and policy professionals working across borders to reform trauma care, drug policy, and veteran healthcare. We have engaged with civic leaders in the U.S., Israel, Australia, Ireland, the U.K., and elsewhere. We actively coordinate with universities, lawmakers, and government agencies, our priorities include:
Federal cannabis descheduling and VA-led access models
Post-traumatic growth frameworks
Psychedelic-assisted therapy policy with community safeguards
Narrative sovereignty and protection from research exploitation
This memo is submitted by Ricardo Pereyda, U.S. Army veteran and founding member of IVLC. Ricardo is the principal author of The Green Paper, submitted to the U.S. Senate in 2021 as formal input on the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act. He is also the custodian of Robert Randall’s original medical necessity case archive, working closely with Alice O’Leary Randall to preserve and publish the historical record of cannabis justice.
Ricardo is a Flinn-Brown Fellow, he served as a student veteran leader at the University of Arizona, and has organized for multiple national and state campaigns centering veteran voice in public policy.
We appreciate your time, attention, and continued commitment to Arizona’s veterans. We stand ready to support your efforts—and to hold the line on what matters.
