House To Vote On Letting VA Doctors Recommend Medical Marijuana To Military Veterans And Supporting Psychedelics Research

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to consider amendments to a
spending bill this week that would authorize U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) doctors to issue medical marijuana recommendations to military
veterans and support psychedelics research and access.

The House Rules Committee on Monday made the cannabis and psychedelics
amendments in order for floor consideration for possible attachment to the
Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies (MilConVA)
appropriations legislation.

One of the proposals from Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Dave Joyce (R-OH)—who
are both co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus—would increase
veterans’ access to state medical marijuana programs and eliminate a
current VA directive barring the department’s doctors from issuing cannabis
recommendations.

*Here’s the text of the amendment: *

“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the
Department of Veterans Affairs in this Act may be used to enforce Veterans
Health Directive 1315 as it relates to—

(1) the policy stating that ‘VHA providers are prohibited from completing
forms or registering Veterans for participation in a State-approved
marijuana program’;

(2) the directive for the ‘Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations
and Management’ to ensure that ‘medical facility Directors are aware that
it is VHA policy for providers to assess Veteran use of marijuana but
providers are prohibited from recommending, making referrals to or
completing paperwork for Veteran participation in State marijuana
programs’; and

(3) the directive for the ‘VA Medical Facility Director’ to ensure that ‘VA
facility staff are aware of the following’ ‘[t]he prohibition recommending,
making referrals to or completing forms and registering Veterans for
participation in State-approved marijuana programs’.”

“I’m not a doctor. I wouldn’t presume to tell people when they should
consider cannabis for medical purposes,” Mast said before the Rules
Committee on Monday, recounting the long road to recovery from his own war
wounds that he suffered in Afghanistan.

“I woke up in a hospital called Walter Reed one day, and I can tell you
that when I woke up in that hospital—missing two legs and a finger—I woke
up on a laundry list of narcotics and medications, things I had never been
on in my life,” he said, adding that he went through a “gamut” of
withdrawal symptoms from the opioids he was given.

“The point of this is to say there are alternatives out there,” he said. “I
wouldn’t say when those alternatives are appropriate, but I know that it is
appropriate if somebody is getting all of their medical health from the
Department of Veterans Affairs, that they be able to have that discussion
about what they may be considering for their health with that person that
is providing their health care.”

“If they can’t trust that they can have at least that discussion with that
person providing their health care, then the VA is failing them, because
one way or another, they’re going to look into a path that they’re
considering. It would be much better if they look into that path under the
directive of their doctor. And so that’s what my amendment is about…just
making sure that those doctors have the ability to not be prohibited from
speaking to those veterans about something that they may be otherwise
considering through legal programs in their state.”

The provision is based on a standalone bill, the Veterans Equal Access Act,
which Mast refiled in February. That marked one of the latest attempt to
enact the measure that’s enjoyed bipartisan support over recent sessions
but has yet to become law. It’s advanced several times in committee and on
the floor but has yet to be enacted into law.

In past years, both the House and Senate have included provisions in their
respective MilConVA measures that would permit VA doctors to make the
medical cannabis recommendations, but they have never been enacted into law.

Another MilConVA provision being considered along with the House bill this
year, from Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI), would encourage
VA to support research into the benefits of psychedelics in treating
medical conditions commonly affecting military veterans.

*Here’s the summary of the amendment: *

“Increases and decreases funding for the Medical and Prosthetic Research
account at the Department of Veterans Affairs to direct the Department to
evaluate and make recommendations on changes that would need to be made to
its existing healthcare infrastructure to integrate approved psychedelic
therapies into veterans’ care options for conditions such as PTSD and
substance use disorders. This would include the need for supporting the
development and dissemination of training and supervision programs for
providers and pilot programs to inform clinical implementation of these
therapies.”

“We lose up to 20 veterans a day to suicide. One is too many. Our nation’s
veterans continue to suffer tragic rates of suicide and opioid overdose
deaths after they return home,” Correa said in a press release. “While the
VA has finally begun to study the impact of breakthrough therapies like
psychedelics on veterans’ invisible wounds, the time is now to begin
preparing for how these therapies will one-day be distributed to ensure the
health and safety of our nation’s most valiant warriors.”

“It’s my hope that my colleagues—Democrat and Republican alike—will join us
in getting this amendment signed into law and kickstart our work to get our
veterans the care they deserve,” he said.

Bergman, who along with Correa is a co-chair of the Psychedelics Advancing
Therapies (PATH) Caucus, added that “after serving our country with honor,
many of our warriors return home only to face a different kind of battle.”

“I’ve spent years advocating for solutions to meet Veterans where they
actually are, including exploring innovative therapies that show promise
for treating the invisible wounds of war,” he said. “We owe it to our
Veterans to create more options for help and less hoops to jump through –
they shouldn’t come home to a new fight.”

The House on Tuesday approved the rule under which the spending legislation
will be considered, but did not begin taking up amendments, which is
expected later this week.

There were notably fewer cannabis-related amendments filed for the MilConVA
bill this year compared to past sessions, though the Rules Committee has
previously rejected several of those other Democratic-led reforms such as
blocking cannabis testing for federal job applicants in states that have
enacted legalization.


*— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug
policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon
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*Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on
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Meanwhile, on Monday, the House Appropriations Committee approved a
separate spending bill containing provisions that hemp stakeholders say
would devastate the industry, prohibiting most consumable cannabinoid
products that were federally legalized during the first Trump
administration.

Also, earlier this month, Congress passed a bill that is primarily focused
on permanently banning analogues of fentanyl, though it also contains
provisions that one GOP lawmaker said would remove barriers to conducting
research into the risks and benefits of marijuana and other Schedule I
drugs.

Congressional Committee Approves Federal Hemp THC Ban That Stakeholders Say
Would Decimate Industry

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