The House of Representatives this week approved amendments to a major federal spending bill that would authorize the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to accept medical cannabis use by veterans, and expand research efforts into psychedelics, Marijuana Moment reports. The amendments have been attached to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (MilConVA) Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations Bill.
Under the medical cannabis amendment brought by Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chairs Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Dave Joyce (R-OH), veterans would no longer be barred from participating in state-legal medical cannabis programs. Lawmakers approved the amendment on Tuesday in a 290-116 vote.
“My proposed amendment, I believe, is common sense. It allows doctors in the VA — those that deal with veterans — to give advice to their veteran patients. That seems simple enough, but under the status quo, VA doctors are limited in essential treatment options that they can offer to their patients and treatments that patients that are not veterans can readily assess in many states.” — Mast, in a statement
“It’s unfortunate that the Department of Veterans Affairs is trapped in time, not giving veterans the full benefits of medical cannabis,” said Blumenauer, who has announced he will be retiring later this year at the end of his term.
Similar VA-focused cannabis provisions were approved last year in both the House and Senate but the reforms ultimately failed to reach the final version of the bill, the report said.
Lawmakers also approved on a voice vote two psychedelics-focused amendments: one that calls on the VA to support research investigating psychedelics as a treatment for conditions common among military veterans, and another calling on the VA to send Congress a report detailing the potential implementation of MDMA-assisted therapy if the drug were to become federally approved.
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