A key place on the U.S. Division of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been crammed, with the Senate voting to verify a nominee who beforehand helped oversee and develop New Jersey’s medical marijuana program and who has advocated for federal legalization.
Shereef Elnahal, President Joe Biden’s nominee for VA undersecretary of well being, will likely be chargeable for main a key division of the division that till now has administratively prevented VA medical doctors from issuing medical hashish suggestions to navy veterans.
Not solely did Elnahal enthusiastically work to control and enhance New Jersey’s medical hashish program because the state well being commissioner from 2018-2019, however he’s additionally made clear that he personally believes federal prohibition should come to an finish. And now, he has been confirmed for a high VA slot by a Senate vote of 66-23 on Thursday. He’s anticipated to be sworn on this week.
Throughout a affirmation listening to earlier than the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in April, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) introduced up Elnahal’s hashish regulatory background and expressed frustration over VA’s constant opposition to laws, together with his personal, that will promote scientific analysis into the therapeutic potential of marijuana for circumstances that generally afflict the veteran inhabitants.
The now-confirmed official spoke about how, when he was serving as New Jersey’s well being commissioner, he ran the medical marijuana program and “expanded entry to this system throughout the state, and made it simpler for veterans to enroll, as properly.”
“As you already know, senator, this difficulty could be very advanced from the nationwide standpoint and the federal authorities standpoint as a result of it stays a Schedule I drug,” he stated, including that he would decide to “have these discussions with management throughout the administration, but in addition with this committee, and attempt to arrange subsequent steps.”
Watch the dialog about medical hashish and veterans, beginning round 02:03:15 into the video under:
Whereas it stays to be seen how vocal he will likely be in regards to the difficulty as a federal official, Elnahal has made clear up to now that he feels marijuana’s restrictive standing ought to change.
He tweeted in 2018 that hashish “must be descheduled on the federal degree.”
Marijuana must be descheduled on the federal degree. Sufficient is sufficient.
Sufferers on #MedicalMarijuana deserve higher.
Till then, we’re caught with:
-Scant analysis funding
-Restricted to no entry in hospitals/nursing properties
-Excessive prices for sufferershttps://t.co/iJDmCHVjYF— Shereef Elnahal, MD (@ShereefElnahal) July 13, 2018
“Sufficient is sufficient. Sufferers on #MedicalMarijuana deserve higher,” he wrote, itemizing issues of the federal-state coverage battle equivalent to excessive hashish prices and a scarcity of licensed entry at well being care amenities.
On the affirmation listening to, Sullivan adopted up by asking if the nominee had seen any “advantages or takeaways” from his marijuana regulatory work, particularly because it issues veterans who acquired hashish remedy.
“I did. I did function an advocate for this system throughout the board for all sufferers who’re eligible for particular circumstances. It’s a condition-based system,” he said. “However the intersection with federal regulation was not one thing I needed to cope with on the time, and so that will be a layer of points that I must deal with if confirmed.”
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), chair of the committee who additionally sponsored the VA hashish analysis invoice alongside Sullivan, stated that he’s conscious of the quite a few well being circumstances that individuals use marijuana to deal with, and he’d be “all-in” if there was proof supporting that hashish can supplant the usage of harmful prescribed drugs. But when the science doesn’t assist these medical makes use of, he stated he thinks “we’ll make an enormous mistake.”
“We must be doing this analysis. And if it takes an act of Congress, we’ll do it,” Tester stated. “However I hope you’re aggressive in pushing the VA to do the analysis inside the regulation.”
In the meantime, different bipartisan lawmakers have devoted important consideration to marijuana- and veterans-related points, together with this month because the Home has taken up appropriations and protection laws for the 2023 Fiscal Yr.
Whereas VA below a number of administrations has repeatedly testified in opposition to modest hashish measures, that hasn’t stopped members on either side from submitting and advancing payments and amendments to drive coverage adjustments and revise VA directives.
For instance, a bipartisan coalition of Home lawmakers just lately tried to connect language to a bundle of spending measures that will have prevented VA from utilizing its funds to implement provisions of a 2017 Veterans Well being Administration (VHA) directive that ban division medical doctors from issuing medical hashish suggestions to veterans and blocks VA from protecting medical marijuana prices. (As VA undersecretary, Elnahal will lead VHA.)
The modification as launched was meant to merge prior standalone payments led by Congressional Hashish Caucus co-chairs Reps. Dave Joyce (R-OH), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Brian Mast (R-FL). Nevertheless it was not made so as within the Guidelines Committee, with committee management maintaining it from flooring consideration on procedural grounds.
Individually, an modification did just lately cross the Home as a part of a protection invoice would sort out the problem of permitting VA medical doctors to difficulty medical hashish suggestions to veterans, nevertheless it’s unclear if the Senate will observe swimsuit.
In any case, VA itself has additionally created bureaucratic complications for lawmakers who really feel an obligation to enact reform that enjoys widespread public assist, together with from a lot of the veterans neighborhood. To that finish, Joyce stated in a press release to Marijuana Second on Friday that he’s “happy to see the bipartisan affirmation of Dr. Shereef Elnahal.”
“The undersecretary of well being is a critically necessary place on the VA, and it has been vacant for a lot too lengthy,” Joyce, whose father was a World Struggle II veteran, stated. “I stay up for working with Dr. Elnahal to make sure that veterans get the well being care they deserve and have earned, together with elevated medical hashish entry in states which have chosen to make it authorized.”
It’s not clear simply how a lot authority Elnahal must unilaterally reform administrative marijuana insurance policies or spur further VA-led analysis into hashish, however his affirmation will doubtless be well-received by advocates and veterans organizations which have pushed for departmental coverage adjustments on the problem for years.
In 2018, then-New Jersey Well being Commissioner Elnahal talked in regards to the recalcitrance of the medical neighborhood to embrace hashish as a official therapeutic, arguing that prevailing “stigma that’s constructed up over time” due to its leisure use has produced false narratives.
“After all it’s been used illegally for these [recreational] causes, nevertheless it has a number of therapeutic advantages,” he stated.
“The facet impact profile, specifically the danger for dependence, habit, overdose, demise—all of these are a lot decrease and nonexistent for marijuana versus opioids,” he said. “The opposite factor is we’re not essentially recommending it as a first-line remedy, we’re simply permitting you now to advocate it as a first-line remedy. It’s nonetheless a scientific judgement.”
Whereas advocates have been inspired by the work of New Jersey regulators like Elnahal to develop the states medical hashish program, with the variety of registered sufferers rising considerably below his tenure, he additionally acknowledged the necessity to do extra to make it simpler for sufferers to simply entry reasonably priced merchandise, particularly in a state that didn’t permit dwelling cultivation.
We’re lastly giving the NJ #MedicalMarijuana program the eye it deserves- hundreds extra sufferers could have entry, medical doctors will discover it simpler to advocate marijuana as a first-line tx, and dispensaries will discover it simpler to service many extra @GovMurphy @NJDeptofHealth https://t.co/Lq8iKbeKBX
— Shereef Elnahal, MD (@ShereefElnahal) March 27, 2018
“It’s justified impatience,” he told Insider NJ in 2018, including that the general public stress his workplace confronted over entry limitations “holds us accountable, makes certain we’re not shedding perspective on how sufferers are feeling.” Whereas he stated he won’t favor receiving crucial Twitter posts from individuals demanding quicker reform, even that form of casual suggestions generally “results in motion.”
The then-commissioner oversaw quite a few medical hashish policy changes that have been enacted in New Jersey, together with including new qualifying circumstances, reducing registration charges, permitting sufferers to have extra major caregivers, repealing a pressure restrict and approving further types of medication.
Information on the rising variety of sufferers who have been enrolling in New Jersey’s medical hashish system was met with applause from Elnahal, who said in 2018 that “we’re constructing a compassionate, consumer-friendly program,” though “our work is way from achieved.”
“Extra physicians ought to look to medicinal marijuana as a secure, efficient remedy—and one that may assist not solely enhance sufferers’ wellbeing but in addition fight the opioid disaster,” he stated.
Elnahal additionally participated in a lecture tour the place he visited hospitals and healthcare amenities round New Jersey to encourage medical doctors to take part within the medical hashish program.
In one other notable growth to return out of the Biden administration just lately, the president’s judicial nominee for a key federal appeals courtroom has helped to craft Arizona’s marijuana legalization poll initiative and likewise served in a management function for a nationwide hashish advocacy group.
Additionally, final 12 months, Biden nominated a White Home drug czar who beforehand performed a key function in overseeing the implementation and enlargement of West Virginia’s medical marijuana program. The Senate-confirmed official has additionally publicly acknowledged each the therapeutic and financial potential of hashish reform.
A part of the explanation that these nominations are important, so far as advocates are involved, is as a result of whereas Biden campaigned on modest marijuana reform proposals like rescheduling the plant, expunging prior federal hashish data and letting states set their very own insurance policies, he stays out of step with the general public—and significantly his occasion—as a constant opponent of adult-use legalization.
Picture courtesy of WeedPornDaily.