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House lawmakers have introduced a series of drug policy-related amendments to defense legislation, including proposals to facilitate research on the benefits of psychedelics for active duty military personnel and to protect banks that service state-legal marijuana businesses.<\/p>\n
Other proposed amendments, which the House Rules Committee will take up next week, would codify that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) can\u2019t deny home loan benefits to veterans just because they work in the cannabis industry and require the agency to conduct a clinical trial into the therapeutic benefits of marijuana for veterans with chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<\/p>\n
If made in order by the panel, the measures would then go to the floor for consideration by the full House. Here\u2019s an overview of what the lawmakers are hoping to get into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA):<\/p>\n
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), a veteran himself who recently moderated a conversation with a top psychedelics reform advocate<\/a>, filed a measure<\/a> that would allow the secretary of defense to approve grants for research into the therapeutic potential of certain psychedelics such as MDMA, psilocybin, ibogaine and 5\u2013MeO\u2013DMT for active duty military members with post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n The grants could be awarded to federal or state agencies, academic institutions or non-profit organizations. Researchers would need to \u201cconduct one or more phase two clinical trials for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder\u201d involving either individual or group therapy. The grant money could also be used to support training practitioners to treat eligible military members with psychedelics.<\/p>\n Until now, Crenshaw has consistently voted against marijuana and drug policy reform<\/a> measures in Congress, including two prior amendments that were aimed at removing barriers to research on the benefits of psychedelics<\/a>. His home state of Texas recently enacted a law to require officials to study the therapeutic potential of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) and a bipartisan list of cosponsors are seeking to attach language<\/a> to NDAA that would prevent financial regulators from penalizing banks or credit unions that work with state-legal marijuana businesses. The congressman is the sponsor of the standalone Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which has passed the House in various forms four times<\/a> so far and is identical to the new amendment.<\/p>\n While the legislation is not directly connected to defense-related issues, it\u2019s likely Perlmutter sees the must-pass NDAA as a potential vehicle for the reform that could make its way through the Senate, whereas all prior House-passed cannabis banking legislation has stalled to date.<\/p>\n Another longtime cannabis reform advocate, Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA), has an amendment<\/a> on marijuana research. It would direct the head of VA to carry out a double-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial into the \u201ceffects of medical grade cannabis on the health outcomes of covered veterans diagnosed with chronic pain and covered veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n With respect to chronic pain, the trial would have to investigate the impact of cannabis use on neuropathic pain and the use and dosage of opioids, benzodiazepines and alcohol, as well as overall wellbeing factors like sleep and anxiety. For PTSD studies, researchers would need to examine the effects of marijuana on overall symptoms and benzodiazepines use.<\/p>\n Correa introduced standalone legislation earlier this year<\/a> that is largely similar to the amendment, with some minor differences on the type of studies that would need to be carried out.<\/p>\n A pair of Republican lawmakers separately introduced a congressional bill in April that\u2019s meant to promote research into the medical potential of marijuana<\/a>\u00a0for veterans.<\/p>\n \u2014 Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) is again pushing to stop VA from being able to deny home loans to veterans who work in the state-legal marijuana industry.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the case of a person with documented income that is derived, in whole or in part, from working in the marijuana industry in compliance with the law of the State in which the work takes place, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not use the fact that such documented income is derived, in whole or in part, from working in the marijuana industry as a factor in determining whether to guarantee, issue, or make a housing loan under chapter 37 of title 38, United States Code,\u201d the text of the amendment says.<\/p>\n In June, the Appropriations Committee approved a bill that includes a report<\/a> acknowledging that VA has clarified that veterans are eligible for home loan benefits<\/a> even if they work in a state-legal marijuana industry. However, it expressed disappointment that the agency hasn\u2019t taken further action to communicate this policy to lenders and borrowers.<\/p>\n That spending bill report also directed VA to improve that communication and report back to Congress on its progress within 180 days of the enactment of the legislation.<\/p>\n A prior Clark amendment to address the problem was approved by the full House as part of a previous defense policy bill<\/a>\u2014though leaders in the chamber\u00a0agreed to scrap it after the Senate didn\u2019t include it in its version of the legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) reintroduced an amendment<\/a> to prohibit the use of funds for aerial fumigation on drug crops in Colombia, a practice widely criticized by reform and human rights advocates. The House receded on the proposal last year.<\/p>\n The Rules Committee is expected to decide<\/a> next week which of the above amendments will be allowed to advance for floor votes.<\/p>\n As approved in the House Armed Services Committee earlier this month, NDAA already includes report language voicing concern about racial disparities in military drug testing practices<\/a> 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\u00a0grant reenlistment waivers to service members<\/a>\u00a0who have committed a single low-level marijuana offense.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear why Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who has\u00a0consistently championed that cannabis measure<\/a>, declined to introduce it this year.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, over in the Senate, the Appropriations Committee passed a measure last month that\u2019s meant to promote military veterans\u2019 access to medical marijuana<\/a> by allowing VA doctors to issue cannabis recommendations in legal states. It would further prohibit VA from interfering with, or denying services to, veterans who participate in a state-legal medical cannabis program.<\/p>\n 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 Last year, the\u00a0House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee approved legislation to expand medical cannabis research for veterans<\/a>, as well as a separate proposal to allow VA doctors to issue medical marijuana 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 National Urban League Backs Marijuana Legalization With Licenses Reserved For Impacted Communities<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Image element courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post House Could Vote On Psychedelics Research For Military And Marijuana Banking As Part Of Defense Bill<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
House lawmakers have introduced a series of drug policy-related amendments to defense legislation, including proposals to facilitate research on the benefits of psychedelics for active duty military personnel and to protect banks that service state-legal marijuana businesses. Other proposed amendments, which the House Rules Committee will take up next week,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":49963,"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\/49962"}],"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=49962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49964,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49962\/revisions\/49964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Marijuana banking<\/h2>\n
VA cannabis research<\/h2>\n
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\n\u2014<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\nVA home loans for veterans in the cannabis industry<\/h2>\n
Withhold funds for fumigation of drug crops in Colombia<\/h2>\n
Racially discriminatory drug testing in the military<\/h2>\n
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\nRead More: House Could Vote On Psychedelics Research For Military And Marijuana Banking As Part Of Defense Bill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"