Yesterday
afternoon was the moment of truth for U.S. Army Veteran Jeff
Crawford, who, due to his medical marijuana use was
in danger of losing the subsidized housing he receives through
the nonprofit Volunteers of America.
Crawford was understandably nervous about the meeting, fearing
that he would be separated from his wife and two sons if he didn't
start passing drug tests. But Ben Perdue, a case manager with VOA
that has been sympathetic to Crawford’s use of marijuana to treat
his stomach ulcers, migraines, and arthritis, called the whole
situation, “a big misunderstanding.”
In a phone call, Perdue said, "He’s not going to be evicted at
all. Drug screening is just to help us help people who fall off the
wagon with drugs like heroin." I also spoke with Orlando Ward,
executive director of external affairs for VOA in L.A., who said,
"It’s not an untruth in terms of our transitional housing policy
[that he could be evicted], but we consider the medical needs that
are there… In this case, we don’t have approval from the VA [for
medical marijuana use].”
Crawford says he's getting mixed signals from the Department of
Veterans Affairs, too. He claims his case worker, Katie
Hashimoto, initially told him that if he didn't return a clean
urine analysis he could be put in Narcotics Anonymous, removed from
his apartment with VOA, and separated from his family. When
Crawford met with Hashimoto yesterday, he says she denied telling
him he could ever face those consequences. An attempt to reach
Hashimoto for comment was met with a referral to VA's public
affairs office in L.A., where a public affairs specialist told me,
"Marijuana is not prescribed by VA clinicians nor dispensed by VA
pharmacies because to do so would be a violation of federal
law."
That doesn't actually clear things up for Crawford. We do know
it's not impossible for a veteran to get help from the VA while on
medical marijuana.
VHA Directive 2011-004 states basically that the VA will
neither help a veteran get access to a drug that is still
classified as Schedule I by the Controlled Substances Act nor will
they deny services if done in a state where it is legal, such as
California. (The VA's outdated opinions on medical marijuana is a
subject that
I've written about before.)
For now, it looks like Crawford
is clear of the immediate danger of losing his housing, but he has
been asked to submit to regular drug tests and produce notes from
his doctors that recommended using medical marijuana.
As Ward said: "It's our job to be flexible and work with folks,
but we have to think of the 20 other people in the program... We
help over 4,000 veterans each year." Ward added that although he's
heard of a few reasons why VOA might want to transition Crawford to
more "appropriate housing,"—noise complaints and a difficulty
coming up with rent money—they're not going to simply make "an
arbitrary transition."
When I spoke with Crawford and his wife yesterday evening after
the meeting they were understandably relieved to be home but remain
on edge. He says that a security guard comes to his apartment once
a week about noise, even when his family is asleep. In an email,
Crawford wrote:
So on top of the latest scare re: my medicine, which, btw, I do
not take around my kids, I have this menacing security guard
who follows us with his lights out at night and always seems to be
parked outside our unit... I feel the Volunteers of America
are going to try to find any reason to complain about us and have
us removed. I understand now why there are so many homeless
veterans (Freedom Fighters). Give us a break.
This situation has gotten Crawford support from several
different agencies: Americans for Safe Access, the Assistance
League, California NORML, Oaksterdam University, and Veterans for
Medical Marijuana Access. Hopefully they can all work together with
VOA to keep Crawford and his family stable and on their feet.
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