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Home 🌿 Marijuana Politics 🌿 Veteran Medical Marijuana Benefits Are Costing Canada a Fortune 🌿

Veteran Medical Marijuana Benefits Are Costing Canada a Fortune

Submitted by Marijuana News on Thu, 11/17/2016 - 09:55

The Canadian government is getting gouged on its veteran medical marijuana program, and a VICE News investigation has revealed the likely culprits.

According to figures provided by Veterans Affairs Canada, the number of retired soldiers obtaining medical marijuana from the government saw a staggering 15-fold increase over just three years, with a corresponding 50-time increase in cost.

From just 112 veterans on the plan in 2013, the federal government now covers the medical marijuana prescriptions for 1,762 veterans nation-wide. The cost has gone from $400,000 to $20 million in that time. That’s a jump of 5,000 percent. 

The problem, first highlighted by a report in 2015 by the Auditor General, appears to be the result of an aggressive campaign to sign-up veterans and prescribe them expensive strains of marijuana, the cost of which is billed directly to the government.

“Marijuana for medical purposes became the highest-cost item paid for under...

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