Public Accounts committee  Gentlemen, I confirm that marijuana is not only used for psychological problems, but also for physical injuries. Our information indicates that many military people with musculoskeletal injuries use a lot more marijuana than those who suffer from psychological issues. We have fo

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, as I mentioned previously, physicians have the authority regarding marijuana, and are responsible for the overall health, both physical and mental, of our veterans who return to civilian life. It is important that we insist on that point. That said, Mr. Godin, you are

Public Accounts committee  To the first part of your question, many of our veterans find marijuana for medical use to be beneficial to them. Again, it is very compelling, and the challenge is that it's very anecdotal. As Dr. Courchesne indicated, we don't have a medical research branch in Veterans Affairs,

Public Accounts committee  We are certainly looking at all of this information. I'll just ask my colleague—

Public Accounts committee  Yes, I would ask my colleagues to chime in. Michel.

Public Accounts committee  Again from my previous life, if I can lead, I'll lead and I'll take the hill. In some cases I don't have the lead, and we have to work with other government departments. We are working very closely with Health Canada in this regard. It has the lead for the PLAs. We are trying to

Public Accounts committee  Sir, we will move out with all dispatch to implement this as soon as possible.

Public Accounts committee  I will start and then I'll ask Dr. Courchesne to wade in. The formulary review committee comprises health professionals from our own department. It includes Dr. Courchesne and our national pharmaceutical advisor, as well as the pharmacists and the medical consultants from Medavi

Public Accounts committee  Again, what we've done is to recreate leadership in pharmaceutical advice in the department that had been lacking for a few years. While we had pharmacists, they weren't Veterans Affairs pharmacists. They were from Blue Cross Medavie and others. Now we actually have recreated th

Public Accounts committee  Sir, mental health exactly, along with physical health, is always a priority, so it is centre of mind constantly.

Public Accounts committee  Sir, we can only speculate that our veterans are networked with each other. Again, they have had a common experience in operations, be they in Afghanistan, in Bosnia, Rwanda, Somalia, or operations prior to that, so they are networked, and they are dispersed from coast to coast t

Public Accounts committee  But the other challenge that we have is that there are physicians in the country who will not prescribe—

Public Accounts committee  —and therefore that's one of the challenges. At the same time—

Public Accounts committee  Sir, you're absolutely correct in your concerns, and we share all of them, and this is the reason our minister has asked for this review: to try to get as much of the real information across the board from the best researchers in the country and to hear the perspectives from our

Public Accounts committee  If I could ask Dr. Courchesne to just briefly mention her meeting with some of Canada's top medical experts on this topic.