Yes, you should be honest about medical marijuana use if it comes up or if it is relevant to your symptoms and treatment history. VA policy has been consistent for years that veterans will not be denied service connection or have benefits reduced solely because they use marijuana, even though it remains a Schedule I substance under federal law. VA guidance to raters and examiners (reflected in VHA directives on marijuana use and in M21-1 adjudication procedures) makes clear that state-legal medical marijuana use should not be treated as illegal drug abuse for purposes of denying disability compensation, and it should not automatically be characterized as willful misconduct.
During a Compensation and Pension exam, the examiner's job is to assess the current severity of your psychiatric symptoms and their functional impact, not to police your marijuana card. If you disclose that you tried multiple SSRIs without success and turned to medical marijuana afterward, that context can actually help illustrate the persistence and severity of your PTSD symptoms and your attempts to manage them through conventional treatment first. Trying to hide it, or having the examiner discover inconsistencies between your file and your statements, is more likely to hurt your credibility than the marijuana use itself would.
Official 2026 VA monthly compensation, including the 2.8% COLA increase.
Dependent add-ons start at a 30% rating. Child-only and dependent-parent rates: see the full 2026 pay chart.
| Rating | Monthly (2026, incl. 2.8% COLA) |
|---|---|
| 10% | $180.42 |
| 20% | $356.66 |
| 30% | $552.47 |
| 40% | $795.84 |
| 50% | $1,132.90 |
| 60% | $1,435.02 |
| 70% | $1,808.45 |
| 80% | $2,102.15 |
| 90% | $2,362.30 |
| 100% | $3,938.58 |
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Analyze my claim free →That said, be prepared for the examiner to ask follow-up questions about frequency, dosage, and whether it is being used to manage sleep, anxiety, nightmares, or other PTSD symptoms specifically, since that ties directly into the rating criteria under 38 CFR 4.130. If there is any question of a co-occurring substance use disorder, be straightforward about that too; VA case law (including the Federal Circuit's guidance on separating symptoms of service-connected and non-service-connected conditions) generally requires the VA to attribute overlapping symptoms to the service-connected condition when they cannot be clearly distinguished, which works in the veteran's favor.
For an MST-based claim specifically, remember that corroborating evidence standards are relaxed under 38 CFR 3.304(f)(5), so focus your preparation on documenting behavioral changes, treatment records, and buddy statements around the time of the incidents, not just the marijuana question.
As a next step, bring your medical marijuana card, dosage information, and a brief written timeline of your treatment attempts (SSRIs tried, dates, why they failed) to give the examiner accurate context rather than relying on memory during the exam.
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