Special Ops Veterans Launch Pot Company To Provide Medical Cannabis For Other Vets

A trio of veterans are trying to help their fellow former service-members by providing medical cannabis.
Special Ops Veterans Launch Pot Company To Provide Medical Cannabis For Other Vets
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Three veterans in California are so determined to promote the benefits of medical cannabis among service-members, they went out and launched a company to accomplish the mission.

It’s called the Helmand Valley Growers Company, and it was founded last year by Andy Miears, Bryan Buckley and Matt Curran—all of whom are so-called “Marine Raiders,” veterans of the United States Special Operations. Their mission is straight-forward: provide medical cannabis to fellow veterans of the U.S. Military. To do that, they have launched a recreational cannabis brand to ultimately serve as a profit center for the company and subsidize their altruistic goals.

The country’s opioid epidemic has particularly rocked the veterans community, a group comprised of individuals who often return to civilian life nursing both physical and emotional wounds. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie has said that veterans are twice as likely as civilians to die from an opioid overdose. The VA spearheaded the Opioid Safety Initiative in 2012 to reduce the dependency on opioids among veterans, a program that Wilkie says “managed a 45 percent reduction in veteran patients receiving opioids from July 2012 to June 2018.” 

As advocates like Miears, Buckley and Curran see it, cannabis could also represent a solution to the opioid crisis. 

“[Helmand Valley Growers Company] began its outreach into the veteran community by observing first-hand and listening to the suffering of our veterans. We knew right then that our cause was worthy; and that our mission was defined,” the company says on its website. “Our next step moved us into researching medical cannabis and speaking with the top experts in the field. As our research progressed, the answer to this crisis became clear: develop alternate medical solutions for those suffering with pain, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, sleep disorders, and most critically, are at significant risk of suicide. We care about those who suffer and believe that medical cannabis is the way of the future to help those in need. The recreational cannabis and branding will be used to assist in accomplishing these goals and ultimately serve as a profit center for HVGC.”

Over the course of presentations and seminars, the company says it became clear that “a recreational brand will be a monetary success and will help fund the ultimate mission of HVGC, providing medical cannabis to the veterans of our United States Military.”

To that end, Helmand Valley is now launching a line of vape cartridges that are being sold throughout southern California. According to the company, all profits “go to the Battle Brothers Foundation to fund Veteran Medical Cannabis research.”

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  1. Andy Miears, Bryan Buckley and Matt Curran and the rest of the team at Helmand Valley Growers Company, thank you for your service and helping where you can. There is much more progress that needs to be made when it comes to Medical Cannabis. Legalization, research and testing. There are days my medical cannabis helps a lot, others it doesn’t but still better off then the opioids the VA had me on.

  2. Our goals over lap it appears. I make EZJ gear for vets & soccer moms. If you never rolled before or are missing fingees its hard to roll, our gear is made in the USA by vets.

  3. Marine Raider is a title not easily earned nor given lightly, it is not a pet name or nickname, it’s a badge of honor. Please give these guys the respect they deserve. Nobody is a so-called Raider, they either are or they are not. And these gentlemen most definitely are.

    1. And how about the several growers and dispensaries in Oklahoma ran by vets to help all. This article is 3 years behind what they are doing in oklahoma.

  4. Thank U!!! I’ve been a medical patient since 2001 and the VA system is not safe for cannabis users!! I pray this changes for the veterans benefits!!! stay high and stay strong!!

  5. Thanks to all the vets out there helping other vets. I am all for making this a legal treatment through the VA, it has helped me and my wife overcome anxiety and sleeping issues. I just wish my state would get on the ball and at least make medical legal.

  6. I am a parkinsons patient and use cannabis daily. I wrote a narrative about my cannabis journey and would like to share it.
    My narrative was published on a blog and i would like to share it with anyone who is willing to read it. If im in the right spot to ask this then awesome but the site is so large i am not positive where to ask the question. Thank you for your time, Chuck C.

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