A year and a half ago, the Trudeau government rolled back the amount of medical marijuana that it would cover for veterans from 10 grams a day to three.

But that cut may not have been deep enough for at least one member of the Senate sub-committee on Veterans Affairs.

Sen. David Adams Richards said he questioned the maximum daily amount of medical cannabis allotted to vets suffering from conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. His concern comes on the heels of testimony by James MacKillop, the director of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medical Cannabis Research at McMaster University.

“In non-medical consumers, three grams daily would be considered very consumption and 10 grams would be considered extremely heavy,” MacKillop told the sub-committee at Wednesday’s meeting.

“Twelve joints a day does seem like a lot,” Richards said after the meeting concluded. One gram equalling four joints is a common conversion used by the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medical Cannabis Research, MacKillop said.

“It would be a high level of consumption,” MacKillop said. “Might it be fitting for the person? Yes. But especially for non-medical users, it would be someone who’s a very heavy user. Twelve joints a day, every day, that’s a lot.”

VAC reduced the daily maximum amount of cannabis for medical purposes that is reimbursed from 10 grams to three grams a year ago.

The plan was first announced by then-Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr at the Canadian Military and Veteran Health Research Forum in Vancouver in November 2016.

Cannabis Canada Association praised the VAC days later for continuing its policy of reimbursement, though in a reduced capacity.

“We understand the requirement to manage the budget, and concur with the maxim of ‘start low and go slow’ with any prescribed medication, including medical cannabis,” said Colette Rivet, Executive Director of Cannabis Canada, in a statement.

Marijuana for Trauma, a pro-medical cannabis veterans group, wasn’t as keen.

Marijuana For Trauma co-founder and veteran Mike Southwell said the cutbacks were “very disheartening to those who have served their country with the Canadian Armed Forces.”

Veterans are reimbursed $8.50 a gram for fresh or dried marijuana or cannabis oil under the new policy.

The standard of three grams is based on a Health Canada document cited by Veterans Affairs that suggests a range of average daily usage from three grams per day to .68 grams daily for medical users.

Veterans have been reimbursed for the cost of cannabis since the 2008-09 fiscal year. What originally cost the VAC $19,088 to cover five veterans, later ballooned to $31 million for more than 3,000 veterans in six months of 2016, according to the department’s website.

And veterans can still have the costs of up to 10 grams of cannabis reimbursed per day given the approval as an exceptional case.

The VAC’s website states that as more is learned about the efficacy of cannabis that it may revise its reimbursement policy.

“I don’t know the situation these guys suffering from post-traumatic stress are in. My major thing is that with this comes other treatments and available treatments, so this doesn’t become the only way out for them,” Richards said. The New Brunswicker is a award winning novelist who was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Richards resigned from the Independent Senators Group a month ago and is unaffiliated. He said he hasn’t made up his mind on whether he thinks VAC’s reimbursement amount should be lowered further.

The drug’s effectiveness in treating PTSD was also called into question at Wednesday’s meeting.

“At this point there is insufficient evidence to show that it’s an effective treatment for PTSD,” MacKillop said. “Is it a good hypothesis? Absolutely. Do we have strong evidence? No.”

Other topics raised by subcommittee members related to the use of cannabis while driving, its potential to contribute to suicides and the impact that the drug’s recreational legalization may have on medical users. MacKillop, as well as fellow witness Dr. Albert Wong of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, were united in their belief that individual cannabinoids in cannabis and their effects be more thoroughly studied.

The Wednesday meeting was the sub-committee’s third on medical cannabis use by Canadian veterans as part of its larger study on the services and benefits provided to members of the Canadian Forces, veterans, members and former members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and their families.