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A congressional committee has approved a pair of GOP-led marijuana and psychedelics bills focused on military veterans\u2019 access<\/a>.<\/p>\n About a month after the House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Health Subcommittee held an initial hearing on the legislation, members passed both proposals as part of an en bloc package with other measures under unanimous consent on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The medical cannabis measure, sponsored by the subcommittee chair Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), is titled the Veterans Cannabis Analysis, Research, and Effectiveness (CARE) Act.<\/p>\n \u201cMy bill proposes research on non-opioid pain relief options for veterans with chronic pain and PTSD,\u201d Miller-Meeks told colleagues ahead of the vote. \u201cI want to emphasize that this bill is intended solely for research purposes. Gathering more data will enhance our ability to effectively treat our veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposal would require VA to \u201cconduct and support research relating to the efficacy and safety of forms of cannabis\u201d for chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and \u201cother conditions the Secretary determines appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0legislation\u00a0specifies that the VA studies must involve plants and extracts, at least three varieties of cannabis with different concentrations of THC and CBD and \u201cvarying methods of cannabis delivery, including topical application, combustable and non-combustable inhalation, and ingestion.\u201d<\/p>\n VA would first have to submit a research plan to House and Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committees and make any requests to support the studies. Over the course of five years after the bill is enacted, VA would need to send annual reports on its progress to the panels.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At last month\u2019s hearing, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) voiced support for the bill<\/a> on the condition that certain amendments were made. While the panel didn\u2019t make any changes ahead of the vote on Tuesday, members said they may consider amendments if the legislation is taken up by the full Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee at a later date.<\/p>\n The measure as drafted is identical to\u00a0an earlier bill Miller-Meeks sponsored last Congress<\/a>. On the Senate side, a\u00a0committee approved a separate bill last February<\/a>\u00a0to promote research into the therapeutic effects of marijuana for military veterans with certain conditions. However, Senate Republicans\u00a0blocked a procedural motion to advance it to the floor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the psychedelics bill from Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) would require the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)\u00a0to notify Congress if any psychedelics are added to its formulary of covered prescription drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to stress that what the veterans administration is doing is not working in preventing veteran suicide,\u201d Van Orden said. \u201cWe can quantify that. We have numbers, we have widows, we have widowers, we have kids without parents because they\u2019ve committed suicide as a direct result of their service to our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re able to sit here and have this committee in peace because men and women are standing overseas protecting our lives, and we owe it to them. We just owe it to them,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll be honest with you\u2014I\u2019ve said this before\u2014I am not fully sold on the psychedelic things. They are a therapeutic tool, and I\u2019m not completely sold on it. But I\u2019m unwilling to go to another damn funeral because we didn\u2019t try everything we could.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill states that VA must report to Congress on the addition of any psychedelic medicines to its formulary within 180 days of their federal approval by Food and Drug Administration (FDA).<\/p>\n The report would need to include \u201cthe determination of the Secretary whether to include such drug in the formulary of the Department,\u201d as well as \u201cthe justification of the Secretary for such determination,\u201d the\u00a0bill<\/a>\u00a0text says.<\/p>\n Rep. Jack Bergman (D-MI), co-chair of the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Clinical Treatments (PACT) Caucus, spoke in favor of the proposal, stating that such \u201ctherapies have a huge potential to help us address the mental health and suicide crisis among our veterans, and any VA red tape that delays a formulary decision could cost lives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n VA came out against the psychedelics bill that the committee approved<\/a>, arguing that it\u2019s \u201cunnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n Currently, there are no psychedelic drugs that are federally approved to prescribe as medicine. But that could soon change, as FDA recently agreed to\u00a0review a new drug application for MDMA-assisted therapy<\/a>\u00a0on an expedited basis. The agency has also designated psilocybin,\u00a0and more recently an LSD-like compound, as \u201cbreakthrough therapies.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n In January, VA separately issued a request for applications to conduct in-depth research on\u00a0the use of psychedelics to treat PTSD and depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n Van Orden, who filed the psychedelics bill, is also a co-sponsor of a bipartisan measure to provide funding to the Department of Defense (DOD) to conduct clinical trials into the therapeutic potential of certain psychedelics for active duty military members. That reform was\u00a0signed into law by President Joe Biden under an amendment attached to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last month, congressional appropriations leaders also unveiled a spending package that\u00a0contains language providing $10 million to facilitate the psychedelics studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a floor speech last year, Miller-Meeks, the subcommittee chair, talked about the need to\u00a0support \u201cnovel forms of research\u201d to unlock the potential of psychedelics and cannabis<\/a>\u00a0for the treatment of conditions like PTSD that commonly afflict veterans.<\/p>\n She also touted first-ever FDA\u00a0guidance on psychedelics research<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0she separately requested in a bill filed last year<\/a>\u00a0alongside Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and Ro Khanna (D-CA).<\/p>\n \u2014 During joint U.S. House and Senate committee meetings last month, VSOs also pressed members of Congress to more urgently\u00a0pursue the potential benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy and medical marijuana<\/a>.<\/p>\n The requests from groups like the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Disabled American Veterans and the Wounded Warrior Project came on the heels of organizations at last year\u2019s set of annual VSO hearings\u00a0criticizing VA for \u201cdragging their feet\u201d on medical marijuana research<\/a>.<\/p>\n In October, VA separately launched a new podcast about the future of veteran health care, and\u00a0the first episode of the series focuses on the healing potential of psychedelics<\/a>.<\/p>\n FDA officials also recently joined scientists at a public meeting on\u00a0next steps for conducting research to develop psychedelic medicines<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bipartisan Lawmakers Discuss Marijuana Banking Bill Prospects, With GOP Senator Worrying Reform Will Promote Fentanyl Trafficking<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Image element courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Congressional Lawmakers Approve GOP-Led Marijuana And Psychedelics Bills Focused On Veterans<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A congressional committee has approved a pair of GOP-led marijuana and psychedelics bills focused on military veterans\u2019 access. About a month after the House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Health Subcommittee held an initial hearing on the legislation, members passed both proposals as part of an en bloc package with other measures underContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":74230,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74229"}],"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=74229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74231,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74229\/revisions\/74231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Congressional Lawmakers Approve GOP-Led Marijuana And Psychedelics Bills Focused On Veterans<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"