Active-duty service members, reservists, National Guard members, and other military personnel may face discipline or career consequences involving medical cannabis, CBD, hemp-derived cannabinoids, or related treatment. Problems may affect duty status, promotion, reenlistment, separation, discharge characterization, or benefits.
Military rules may be more restrictive than state medical cannabis laws and may prohibit products that are legally sold to civilians. Drug-testing procedures, chain of custody, product labeling, command decisions, medical records, and the specific regulation applied can all affect the outcome.
Changes in federal medical cannabis law do not automatically override military orders or service-specific policies. Service members may still need to identify the rule being applied, obtain legal or medical review, and distinguish authorized medical treatment or product exposure from impairment or misconduct. These cases require careful documentation rather than assumptions about what state registration permits in a military setting.
THE AG ORDER DOES NOT EXPLICITLY CHANGE THE RIGHTS OF ACTIVE-DUTY SERVICE MEMBERS.Active-duty service members remain subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including Article 112a, which criminalizes the knowing wrongful use, possession, manufacture, distribution, importation, exportation, or introduction of controlled substances. Current Department of Defense and branch-specific policies leave no meaningful medical cannabis pathway for service members. There is no exception for a healthcare professional's recommendation, no exception for state-authorized medical cannabis use, and no exception for service members stationed in jurisdictions where medical cannabis is legal. |
BRANCH-SPECIFIC RULES REMAIN HIGHLY RESTRICTIVE. Army Regulation 600-85, Department of the Air Force Manual 44-197, Navy and Marine Corps ALNAV 057/19, and Coast Guard ALCOAST 308/20 prohibit cannabis, hemp-derived cannabinoid products, cannabidiol products, or related substances in ways that may treat medical use, non-medical use, and potential misconduct as the same category of prohibited conduct.
The military has unique readiness, discipline, deployment, and safety requirements, and those requirements must be respected. However, AG Order No. 6754-2026 requires the Department of Defense to revisit whether a zero-exception framework remains appropriate in every circumstance involving therapeutic medical cannabis use. A policy that treats medical disclosure as misconduct may deter service members from asking clinical questions, planning continuity of care, or seeking medical guidance before separation, retirement, disability evaluation, or transition into Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare.
WHY ASA IS COLLECTING REPORTS FROM SERVICE MEMBERS. Americans for Safe Access is collecting information about these incidents to better quantify how often active-duty personnel and other service members face discipline, career consequences, interrupted treatment, or barriers to honest communication with military healthcare professionals. This information will support advocacy to update Department of Defense and branch-specific policies and protocols. ASA is also seeking active-duty service members who are willing to share their experiences with Congress, either publicly or without identifying information, so policymakers can understand how current rules affect service members and their families.
Service members can use the resources on this page to communicate with command personnel, medical staff, legal assistance, defense counsel, or an appropriate reviewing authority. These include educational materials about medical cannabis laws and sample requests for medical or administrative review. A request does not guarantee that a military policy will be waived or that discipline will be reversed. Because military rules may be more restrictive than state law, meaningful review may require legal assistance, administrative appeals, discharge review, or records-correction proceedings.
PATIENT & CAREGIVER RESOURCES:
NEED HELP DOCUMENTING OR REPORTING DISCRIMINATION? |
The threat of discipline, loss of duty status, separation, discharge, or benefits can have lasting consequences. Even so, documenting what happened, preserving testing and product evidence, and reporting the incident to ASA are essential to identifying discriminatory or outdated practices.
1. Ask for the specific military policy or regulation being applied.
2. Request an individualized medical and administrative review.
3. Keep and organize testing, product, medical, disciplinary, and communication records.
4. Report the discrimination.
REPORTING DISCRIMINATION
Whenever possible, request the policy and decision in writing, document statements about federal law or federal funding, preserve notices and communications, and record every upcoming deadline.
The checklist below can help service members document what happened, identify the military rule or command decision involved, and gather the records needed for medical review, administrative action, appeal, discharge review, or a discrimination report.
You don't need every document on this checklist before reporting an incident. Report urgent situations promptly, continue gathering records, and keep copies of everything you submit.
Download Military Discrimination Checklist
Helpful ASA Resources
The following Americans for Safe Access resources can help patients and caregivers understand their state medical cannabis program, assert their rights, document discrimination, and seek assistance.
Know Your State’s Medical Cannabis Laws | Understand and Assert Your Rights | Tools for Asserting Your Rights | Report Medical Cannabis Discrimination | Traveling with Medical Cannabis | ASA Patient Guides | ASA Resources for Patients and Caregivers
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