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The U.S. House of Representatives has approved amendments to a spending bill that would authorize U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to issue medical marijuana recommendations to military veterans and support psychedelics research and access.<\/p>\n
Two days after the House Rules Committee made the cannabis and psychedelics amendments in order for floor consideration, the full chamber agreed to attach them to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies (MilConVA) appropriations legislation on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
One of the accepted proposals from Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Dave Joyce (R-OH)\u2014who are both co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus\u2014would increase veterans\u2019 access to state medical marijuana programs and eliminate a current VA directive barring the department\u2019s doctors from issuing cannabis recommendations.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the text of the amendment:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cNone of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Veterans Affairs in this Act may be used to enforce Veterans Health Directive 1315 as it relates to\u2014<\/p>\n (1) the policy stating that \u2018VHA providers are prohibited from completing forms or registering Veterans for participation in a State-approved marijuana program\u2019;<\/p>\n (2) the directive for the \u2018Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management\u2019 to ensure that \u2018medical facility Directors are aware that it is VHA policy for providers to assess Veteran use of marijuana but providers are prohibited from recommending, making referrals to or completing paperwork for Veteran participation in State marijuana programs\u2019; and<\/p>\n (3) the directive for the \u2018VA Medical Facility Director\u2019 to ensure that \u2018VA facility staff are aware of the following\u2019 \u2018[t]he prohibition recommending, making referrals to or completing forms and registering Veterans for participation in State-approved marijuana programs\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n The provision\u2014which passed on a voice vote\u2014is based on a standalone bill, the Veterans Equal Access Act, which Mast refiled in February. That marked one of the latest attempt to enact the measure that\u2019s enjoyed bipartisan support<\/a> over recent sessions but has yet to become law. It\u2019s advanced several times in committee and on the floor but has yet to be enacted into law.<\/p>\n Adopted by voice vote.<\/p>\n \u2014 House Appropriations Amendments (@AppropsAmendmts) June 25, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n After sharing his own experience with conventional medications following a serious injury during his time in military service, Mast said that, \u201cin many cases\u201d those drugs \u201cleave our veterans in are, at the most extreme end of it, states of suicide. At other ends of it, just extreme states of dissatisfaction and lacking purpose in life. And in some cases, it does leave them in a better condition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cVeterans need to have options outside of these narcotics, and in many states, there are legal cannabis medical programs, and they need to have the ability when they\u2019re being seen by their primary care physician inside of the VA to have discussions about whether cannabis is or is not right for them because they have access to it in their state,\u201d Mast said.<\/p>\n In past years, both the House and Senate have included provisions in their respective MilConVA measures<\/a>\u00a0that would\u00a0permit VA doctors to make the medical cannabis recommendations<\/a>, but they have never been enacted into law.<\/p>\n\n Another MilConVA provision attached to the House bill this year, from Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI), would encourage VA to support research into the benefits of psychedelics in treating medical conditions commonly affecting military veterans.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the summary<\/a> of the amendment:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIncreases and decreases funding for the Medical and Prosthetic Research account at the Department of Veterans Affairs to direct the Department to evaluate and make recommendations on changes that would need to be made to its existing healthcare infrastructure to integrate approved psychedelic therapies into veterans\u2019 care options for conditions such as PTSD and substance use disorders. This would include the need for supporting the development and dissemination of training and supervision programs for providers and pilot programs to inform clinical implementation of these therapies.\u201d<\/p>\n The House approved the psychedelics measure on a voice vote.<\/p>\n Correa said on the floor that he and Bergman are \u201cencouraged by the promising results so far that we have seen in treating veterans with PTSD and other disorders\u201d by utilizing psychedelics.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, these therapies are different from traditional therapies in many ways,\u201d the congressman said. \u201cPsychedelic therapies involve long-hour sessions with multiple therapists, additional safety issues and special training consideration for providers. We introduce this amendment because we need to be ready and be proactive to make sure that when the VA is ready to administer these therapies, they actually can.\u201d<\/p>\n Bergman said that \u201cWashington, D.C. has built its success on good partnerships, especially across the aisle, on issues that benefit all of our Americans, not just a few,\u201d and that\u2019s what the amendment accomplishes.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout a plan to turn findings into frontline care, we risk failing the very people this research is meant to help our veterans,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know the stakes. Too many service members come home bearing invisible wounds. While traditional treatments work for some, far too many are left cycling through ineffective medications, suffering in silence or worse.\u201d<\/p>\n Adopted by voice vote.<\/p>\n \u2014 House Appropriations Amendments (@AppropsAmendmts) June 25, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThis amendment sends a clear message to the VA: Don\u2019t just study, prepare,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cWe owe our veterans more than research we owe them results. We owe them implementation, and this amendment moves us one step closer to delivering that.\u201d<\/p>\n There were notably fewer cannabis-related amendments filed for the MilConVA bill this year compared to past sessions, though the Rules Committee has previously rejected several of those other Democratic-led reforms<\/a> such as blocking cannabis testing for federal job applicants in states that have enacted legalization.<\/p>\n \u2014 Meanwhile, on Monday, the House Appropriations Committee approved a separate spending bill containing provisions that hemp stakeholders say would devastate the industry<\/a>, prohibiting most consumable cannabinoid products that were federally legalized during the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n Also, earlier this month, Congress passed a bill that is primarily focused on permanently banning analogues of fentanyl, though it also contains provisions that one GOP lawmaker said would remove barriers to conducting research into the risks and benefits of marijuana<\/a> and other Schedule I drugs.<\/p>\n Congressional Committee Approves Federal Hemp THC Ban That Stakeholders Say Would Decimate Industry<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post House Votes To Let VA Doctors Recommend Medical Marijuana To Military Veterans And To Support Psychedelics Research<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved amendments to a spending bill that would authorize U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to issue medical marijuana recommendations to military veterans and support psychedelics research and access. Two days after the House Rules Committee made the cannabis and psychedelics amendments inContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":81854,"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\/81853"}],"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=81853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81855,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81853\/revisions\/81855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n
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\nRead More: House Votes To Let VA Doctors Recommend Medical Marijuana To Military Veterans And To Support Psychedelics Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"