A bipartisan invoice to supply navy veterans with entry to medical marijuana was reintroduced in Congress on Thursday.
Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Brian Mast (R-FL), co-chairs of the Congressional Hashish Caucus, are the chief sponsors of the Veterans Equal Entry Act. The measure has been launched a number of instances lately with bipartisan assist however has but to be enacted.
The laws is narrowly tailor-made, merely permitting medical doctors on the U.S. Division of Veterans Affairs (VA) to suggest medical marijuana to their sufferers in states the place it’s authorized. The sponsors lately urged colleagues to signal on to the laws in a letter circulated to congressional workplaces.
Blumenauer acknowledges that some in Congress won’t be prepared to affix nearly all of People who assist legalization, however mentioned the incremental veterans reform is an instance of laws that might be enacted sooner somewhat than later.
“I believe the prospects have by no means been higher,” Blumenauer advised Marijuana Second in a cellphone interview on Thursday. “That is one the place there’s overwhelming bipartisan assist.”
“We’ve got in poor health handled our veterans,” the congressman mentioned. “There was a time once we handed out opioids to them like Tic Tacs whereas we denied them the flexibility to make use of their VA physician to have the ability to take care of medical hashish, which might have been safer and simpler.”
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The reform, which is an identical to committee-approved variations from previous years and likewise cosponsored by Hashish Caucus co-chair Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), was beforehand pursued via the appropriations course of as an modification.
However lawmakers have shifted gears to concentrate on the standalone invoice following pushback from VA, which has persistently opposed modest marijuana reform proposals that relate to the division.
Mast, for his half, is a disabled veteran himself who was chosen to co-chair the caucus after a previous GOP chief, Rep. Don Younger (R-AK), handed away.
The Veterans Equal Entry Act is an particularly concise invoice that would offer a modest however impactful reform for the veteran group.
It states that the secretary of VA should “authorize physicians and different well being care suppliers employed” by the division to 1) “present suggestions and opinions to veterans who’re residents of states with state marijuana applications relating to the participation of veterans in such state marijuana applications” and a couple of) “full kinds reflecting such suggestions and opinions.”
VA medical doctors are at the moment allowed to debate medical hashish with sufferers, however they’re not particularly licensed to subject suggestions, even in states which have legalized the plant for medical or leisure use.
“That is one thing the place the drumbeat is stronger,” Blumenauer mentioned. “There’s a sure political efficiency—which I believe folks have to rediscover. Individuals should be extra engaged politically. That’s a part of what must occur.”
The Congressional Funds Workplace carried out a fiscal evaluation of an earlier model of the invoice in 2020, discovering that it might not value the federal government something to implement.
Individually, there have reportedly been high-level talks in each chambers about advancing a bundle of incremental hashish reform payments this yr, together with marijuana coverage that pertains to veterans. It’s but to be seen if that potential bundle would function this veterans measure specifically.
The brand new standalone veterans invoice has the assist of a number of main hashish and veterans advocacy teams, together with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IVAV), AMVETS, Veterans Hashish Coalition, NORML, Drug Coverage Alliance, Council for Federal Hashish Regulation, U.S. Hashish Council, Higher Organizing to Win Legalization and Nationwide Hashish Trade Affiliation.
VA, in the meantime, has persistently testified towards even modest payments geared toward encouraging it to conduct extra analysis on the potential medical advantages of hashish for navy veterans.
The division additionally lately made clear that it gained’t present assist for remedy involving marijuana as a part of a brand new grants program geared toward stopping veteran suicide.
VA’s place on marijuana has been a supply of constant frustration for advocates and veteran service organizations who’ve been pushing for expanded analysis into the therapeutic potential of hashish.
Home and Senate committees held joint hearings in March to listen to from veterans service organizations (VSOs) about how Congress and the federal authorities can higher serve their constituents, and several other of the teams introduced up the necessity to ease restrictions on marijuana.
Individually, navy veterans can be “inspired” to debate medical marijuana remedy with out the concern of dropping federal advantages beneath a invoice sponsored by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA).
The principle thrust of that laws is to codify current insurance policies that permit VA medical doctors to speak about medical hashish with sufferers in addition to protections for veterans who’re candid about their historical past with marijuana remedy. By doing so, it might enshrine these polices into regulation in order that they might not later be modified administratively by future VA leaders.
Learn the text of the veterans medical hashish invoice beneath: