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A key House committee on Wednesday approved a large-scale defense spending bill that includes report language voicing concern about racial disparities in military drug testing practices and ordering the Pentagon to conduct a review of the issue.<\/p>\n
Unlike in past sessions, however, lawmakers did not file an amendment requiring the secretary of defense to issue regulations clarifying that military branches can grant reenlistment waivers to service members<\/a> who have committed a single low-level marijuana offense.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear why Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who has consistently championed that cannabis measure<\/a>, declined to introduce it in committee, but it\u2019s possible it could be raised as an amendment later when the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) moves to the House floor. The congressman\u2019s office did not respond several inquiries from Marijuana Moment.<\/p>\n In any case, the language on drug testing from Rep. Anthony Brown (D-MD) was approved by the House Armed Services Committee as part of an en bloc package of amendments<\/a> to NDAA concerning issues related to military personnel.<\/p>\n The report provision says<\/a> that lawmakers are \u201caware of data collected by the [Department of Defense] regarding demographics of the drug testing and evaluation programs of the Armed Forces,\u201d and a 2020 analysis of that data reveals troubling trends.<\/p>\n \u201cThe committee is concerned with the racial disparities found in the report regarding random drug test selection, including significant over representation in the random drug test selection of non-commissioned officers and field grade officers and a consistent and statistically relevant over representation of Black service members overall from fiscal year 2015 to fiscal year 2019. The committee further notes a higher positive test rate amongst service members of color and a standard course of action upon a positive test to administratively separate such personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n To address the issue, members directed<\/a> the defense secretary to work with military branch heads on a report looking at the possibility of standardizing demographic reporting of drug testing activity, including the demographic makeup of those who are randomly screened and the results and investigations that follow.<\/p>\n The department would have until March 1, 2022 to produce the report. What remains to be seen is whether the Senate will approve similar language in its version of NDAA. If not, the question will be whether House negotiators will push for its inclusion in the final conference report.<\/p>\n In other recent congressional cannabis policy moves related to the military, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment last month that\u2019s meant to promote military veterans\u2019 access to medical marijuana<\/a> by allowing doctors at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to issue cannabis recommendations in legal states.<\/p>\n The measure, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), would further prohibit VA from interfering with, or denying services to, veterans who participate in a state-legal medical cannabis program.<\/p>\n Multiple pieces of veterans- and marijuana-specific legislation have also been introduced this Congress.<\/p>\n \u2014 Reps. Conor Lamb (D-PA) and Peter Meijer (R-MI) filed a bill\u2014titled the Fully Informed Veteran Act\u2014in May that would simply allow VA doctors to\u00a0provide basic information and resources<\/a>\u00a0about state-legal cannabis programs to veterans.<\/p>\n A pair of Republican lawmakers introduced a congressional bill in April that\u2019s meant to\u00a0promote research into the medical potential of marijuana<\/a>\u00a0for veterans.<\/p>\n That was filed one day after a bipartisan Senate bill was introduced\u2014and on the same day that House members filed companion legislation\u2014to require VA to\u00a0conduct clinical trials into marijuana<\/a>\u00a0for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain in the population.<\/p>\n Last year, the\u00a0House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee approved a prior version of that bill<\/a>, as well as a separate proposal to allow VA doctors to issue medical cannabis recommendations to their patients in states where it\u2019s legal.<\/p>\n Also in April, a bipartisan coalition of congressional lawmakers reintroduced legislation that would\u00a0federally legalize medical marijuana for military veterans<\/a>.<\/p>\n This session, the House approved a spending bill that includes report language saying federal health agencies should pursue research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics<\/a>\u00a0for military veterans suffering from a host of mental health conditions.<\/p>\n It also acknowledges that VA has clarified that\u00a0veterans are eligible for home loan benefits<\/a> even if they work in a state-legal marijuana industry. However, it expresses disappointment that VA hasn\u2019t taken further action to communicate this policy to lenders and borrowers and directs the department to improve its communication and report back to Congress on its progress within 180 days of the enactment of the legislation.<\/p>\n Separately, a Navy veteran who was deported to Jamaica over a marijuana conviction has recently been allowed to return to the country<\/a> following a concerted push for relief by members of Congress.<\/p>\n Read the full report language on military drug testing below:<\/strong><\/p>\n Amendment to H.R. 4350 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022<\/p>\n Offered by: Mr. Brown of Maryland<\/p>\n In the appropriate place in the report to accompany H.R. 4350, insert the following new Directive Report Language:<\/p>\n Demographics of Drug Testing and Evaluation Programs<\/p>\n The committee is aware of data collected by the Department regarding demographics of the drug testing and evaluation programs of the Armed Forces, including as set forth in the report of the Inspector General of the Air Force titled \u201cReport of Inquiry (S8918P), Independent Racial Disparity Review,\u201d and dated December 2020. The committee is concerned with the racial disparities found in the report regarding random drug test selection, including significant over representation in the random drug test selection of non-commissioned officers and field grade officers and a consistent and statistically relevant over representation of Black service members overall from fiscal year 2015 to fiscal year 2019. The committee further notes a higher positive test rate amongst service members of color and a standard course of action upon a positive test to administratively separate such personnel.<\/p>\n Therefore, the committee directs the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretaries of the military departments, to provide a report to the House Committee on Armed Services by March 1, 2022, on the feasibility of implementing standard demographic reporting of the drug testing and evaluation programs of each armed force, to include collecting demographics on random test selection, availability for random testing, results of random testing, referrals to investigation, and any other relevant stages of the testing and evaluation program; changes to the program necessary to implement such data collection; impediments to implementing such changes; potential options for mitigating such impediments; and a schedule, including specific milestones, in which the establishment of such standard demographic reporting could be executed.<\/p>\n Top Federal Drug Official Says We Don\u2019t Need More Research To Show Criminalization\u2019s Racist Impact<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post House Committee Orders Pentagon To Review Racially Discriminatory Drug Testing Of Military Personnel<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A key House committee on Wednesday approved a large-scale defense spending bill that includes report language voicing concern about racial disparities in military drug testing practices and ordering the Pentagon to conduct a review of the issue. Unlike in past sessions, however, lawmakers did not file an amendment requiring theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":49762,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49761"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49763,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49761\/revisions\/49763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: House Committee Orders Pentagon To Review Racially Discriminatory Drug Testing Of Military Personnel<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"