Jeff Staker took his last prescribed dosage of oxycodone from his Veterans Affairs doctor July 4.
He was told he had become a high-risk patient because the amount of pills he was taking to treat his pain was more than the allotted amount for each cycle.
“When you build up tolerance with medication, especially with opiates, it becomes very dangerous,” Staker said.
Staker, in efforts to help himself and fellow veterans, started Hoosier Veterans for Medical Cannabis.
“Only in the last several years we have demonized marijuana, and I think our public is ready for a change,” Staker said.
On July 25, the Office of the Secretary of State of Indiana certified Hoosier Veterans for Medical Cannabis Inc. as a domestic nonprofit corporation. The corporation received a federal employer identification number through the Internal Revenue Service and has applied for a 501 tax-exempt status.
Currently the group gains funds through the contribution received through its website, donors and mail that is publicly posted.
Staker served 11 years in the Marines as a scout sniper/dual instructor, approximately four years as a basic and advanced noncommissioned officer instructor at the Indiana Military Academy and finished out his military career with Crash Fire Rescue at the Indiana Air National Guard in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
After his active duty ended, Staker left the military with a long list of ailments, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
For 10 years after his leave, Staker was prescribed pain medication in attempts to alleviate his pain and trauma.
“When someone finishes their service, it is not a requirement to go through the Veterans Affairs health system,” said Sarah Gibson, Veterans Services Specialist at IU.
Prior to release, some people are referred to the services, but it is only a suggestion because it is a federal service, Gibson said.
When Staker became aware of his high-risk condition with the dangerous amount of medication he was consuming, he said he asked his physician about the possibility of medical cannabis as an alternative.
“When I was at the VA, my doctor said if he could prescribe it, he would, but he can’t,” Staker said. “I haven’t done marijuana in over 35 years, but I don’t want to take that option off the table.”
The research and the knowledge of the benefits of medical marijuana have grown through the years, Staker said.
Currently 25 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical cannabis.
“With these other states doing it, our forefathers allow us to have this freedom,” Staker said. “The Constitution gives this freedom to the states.”
The goal of the corporation is to inform, educate, lobby, and support and maintain legislation for the legal medical use of cannabis within Indiana. Cannabis would be prescribed by physicians as a pain reliever.
“Every veteran has an individual case and every medical advice changes with each case,” Gibson said.
This does not change on a state-by-state basis, however. Veterans Affairs is solely a federal benefit.
Staker is 51 years old, a father of five and soon to be a grandfather of five as well.
“I am not the stereotype for this push,” Staker said.
For more than 22 years after he left the service, Staker has worked at the Grissom Air Reserve Base in Cass County, Indiana, as a Department of Defense security police and currently as a Department of Defense civilian firefighter, and he said he is looking forward to retiring within the next year.
Staker said if the appropriate legislation was put into place within the state it would be the difference between life and death.
“If we go about it in a responsible and ethical way, I believe progress can be made,” Staker said.
Hoosier Veterans for Medical Cannabis has recently started to work with the Indiana chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Some people in the group are advocates to legalize the drug in general beyond the medical use.
Staker said he thinks the opiate epidemic is the main problem and should be addressed before the push for full legalization.
“I know it’s going to be a battle,” Staker said. “We are on dead ground. We are backed up against a wall, and you are either going to fight or going to die.”
With less than two months into the corporation, Staker said he thought he would receive a lot of negative feedback, but that has not been the case.
“If we go about it the right way, it can be possible,” Staker said. “If marijuana is a gateway drug, then it’s a gateway to freedom.”
