Senators Pass Measure To Let VA Doctors To Recommend Medical Marijuana To Military Veteran Patients

A key Senate committee has adopted an amendment to a defense spending bill
that would allow U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to
recommend medical marijuana to military veterans living in legal states.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said that this was the 10th year in a row the
Senate Appropriations Committee cleared the amendment to the Military
Construction, Veterans Affairs (MilConVA) spending bill. Despite the
repeated approval, however, the measure has never been enacted into law.

“Essentially [the amendment] says, in states where cannabis is legal, that
veterans can talk to their doctors about its appropriate role in their
health care regime,” Merkley said at the markup on Thursday. “To do
otherwise is to restrict the free speech of doctors to do best by their
patients, which is why this has been approved time and time again.”

The amendment is meant to mirror standalone legislation titled the Veterans
Equal Access Act. The text of the proposal adopted by the committee hasn’t
been published yet, however, so it remains to be seen whether it is
identical to what the House passed as part of its own MilConVA
appropriations measure last month.

“Here, on the 10th anniversary of its first introduction, I’d like to see
us approve it again to support our veterans,” Merkley said on Thursday. “We
were just talking about the stress they they face. Let them, in states
where cannabis is legal, have a conversation with their doctor about
whether there is a medicinal role that would be important and helpful to
them.”

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

Mast in February filed the standalone Veterans Equal Access Act—marking one
of the latest attempt to enact the measure that’s enjoyed bipartisan support
over recent sessions.

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.

Meanwhile, a GOP-controlled House committee on Tuesday approved an
amendment attached to a must-pass defense bill that would require a
“progress report” on an ongoing psychedelic therapy pilot program for
active duty military service members and veterans.


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While Congress has been notably amenable to psychedelics research proposals
in recent sessions, the House Rules Committee on Monday separately blocked
a bipartisan amendment to a spending bill led by Luttrell that would have
given DOD another $10 million to support clinical trials into the
therapeutic potential of substances such as ibogaine and psilocybin.

Meanwhile, bipartisan congressional lawmakers recently met with the head of
the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to discuss pathways to provide
access to psychedelic medicine as an alternative treatment option for
conditions such as PTSD.

After requesting the meeting with VA Secretary Doug Collins in May, Reps.
Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI)—founding co-chairs of the
Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus—said the three
had a productive conversations about advancing psychedelics therapy for the
veteran community.

Collins has stood out as a VA secretary who’s especially passionate about
exploring the potential of substances such as ibogaine and MDMA to provide
relief from serious mental health conditions, coordinating with other
officials including U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said recently that his aim is to free
up plant-based medicine options within 12 months.

Correa and Bergman separately introduced a bill in April to provide $30
million in funding annually to establish psychedelics-focused “centers for
excellence” at VA facilities, where veterans could receive novel treatment
involving substances like psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine.

The post Senators Pass Measure To Let VA Doctors To Recommend Medical
Marijuana To Military Veteran Patients appeared first on Marijuana Moment.