June 26, 2025 | David Brown – Posted in Stratcann
Veterans Affairs Canada reimbursed more than thirty thousand kilograms of cannabis for its members in 2024-2025, worth nearly $245 million.
Since 2011, the program has compensated more than $1 billion worth of cannabis to eligible military and other qualified individuals, which can include RCMP, for more than 143 million grams worth of cannabis.
The number of veterans covered under the program has continued to increase annually, from just 37 in 2011-2012 to more than 27,000 in 2024-2025.
In 2011-2012, the agency provided $103,424 in compensation for 16,852 grams of cannabis, or its equivalent in cannabis oil. In each year since, except 2017-2018, both figures have increased, along with client numbers.
Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) first decided to reimburse its first veteran for cannabis for medical purposes on compassionate grounds in 2007. The number of veterans reimbursed for cannabis increased slowly in the years that followed, but in 2014, when Health Canada introduced new medical cannabis regulations (MMPR) that made accessing cannabis through the medical program easier, those numbers began to increase significantly.
In the 2013-2014 fiscal year, there were 112 veterans authorized for compensation for medical cannabis from VAC, with a total of $408,809 paid for 77,012 grams.
By the following year, the number of veterans had jumped to 628, and the total grams compensated had increased to 494,927 for a total of $5,160,747. Over the next few years, those figures continued to increase at a similar rate—from 1,762 veterans in 2015-2016 receiving compensation for more than $20 million worth of cannabis to 4,474 the following year, with compensation exceeding $63 million.
To address concerns with these increases, in late 2016, Veterans Affairs Canada changed their reimbursement policy for cannabis for medical purposes and established a maximum three grams per day limit at up to $8.50 a gram. This likely contributed to the slight decline in 2017-2018 in reimbursements to just under $51 million, although the grams reimbursed continued to increase.
By the following year, the number of clients, reimbursed amount, and grams reimbursed all increased again and have continued to do so each year since.
Veterans Affairs Canada requires a copy of a medical document completed by a healthcare practitioner and a copy of a completed and confirmed registration document issued by a federally licensed seller in order to qualify for compensation.
While the maximum daily reimbursement limit is three grams per day of dried cannabis or the equivalent in fresh cannabis, edible cannabis, cannabis extracts (including cannabis oil), or cannabis topicals, there are exceptions made in some circumstances.
Purchases are only covered for cannabis sources from Health Canada’s commercial medical cannabis access program under the Cannabis Act.
Veterans Affairs Canada may deny approval of reimbursement when federal licensed sellers are determined to be operating outside of the requirements of Health Canada’s Cannabis Act or Cannabis Regulations, the requirements of this policy, and/or any approved provider criteria established by the Department and agreed to by the federal licensed seller.
In some instances, veterans can also be reimbursed for the purchase of a cannabis vaporizer. The purchase is required to be pre-authorized and prescribed by a healthcare practitioner. Veterans Affairs Canada may also consider other “equipment” when the device is medically beneficial.
While the number of veterans authorized to be compensated for medical cannabis has continued to increase, the overall number of people registering for medical cannabis access in Canada has been slowly declining from a peak in 2019 and 2020.
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