Veterans tend to be an older, more conservative group, but that doesn’t stop them from advocating for a radical change in direction from the nation’s outdated policies on marijuana.

The American Legion, represents many conservative veterans, but that doesn’t stop it from taking progressive positions on certain key issues.

A survey released Thursday by the American Legion, the nation’s largest wartime veterans’ service organization, indicates near-unanimous support among veterans for research on medical marijuana, with an overwhelming majority supporting legalization of the drug for medical purposes.

The Legion adopted a resolution last year calling on the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana from its current illicit status to a category “that, at a minimum, will recognize cannabis as a drug with potential medical value.” The resolution also called on the DEA “to license privately funded medical marijuana production operations.”

“People ask ‘aren’t you a law and order group’. Why yes we are,” said Verna Jones, the Legion’s executive director, at a press conference with members of Congress. “But we’re also a group that takes care of veterans. And when veterans come to us and say a particular treatment is working for them, we owe it to them and listen” and do the research required.

The Legion made it clear, however, that its support of marijuana ends where fun begins. [Read more at The Washington Post]