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The U.S. House of Representatives is set to consider amendments to a spending bill this week 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
The House Rules Committee on Monday made the cannabis and psychedelics amendments in order for floor consideration for possible attachment to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies (MilConVA) appropriations legislation.<\/p>\n
One of the 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 \u201cI\u2019m not a doctor. I wouldn\u2019t presume to tell people when they should consider cannabis for medical purposes,\u201d Mast said before the Rules Committee on Monday, recounting the long road to recovery from his own war wounds that he suffered in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n \u201cI woke up in a hospital called Walter Reed one day, and I can tell you that when I woke up in that hospital\u2014missing two legs and a finger\u2014I woke up on a laundry list of narcotics and medications, things I had never been on in my life,\u201d he said, adding that he went through a \u201cgamut\u201d of withdrawal symptoms from the opioids he was given.<\/p>\n \u201cThe point of this is to say there are alternatives out there,\u201d he said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say when those alternatives are appropriate, but I know that it is appropriate if somebody is getting all of their medical health from the Department of Veterans Affairs, that they be able to have that discussion about what they may be considering for their health with that person that is providing their health care.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf they can\u2019t trust that they can have at least that discussion with that person providing their health care, then the VA is failing them, because one way or another, they\u2019re going to look into a path that they\u2019re considering. It would be much better if they look into that path under the directive of their doctor. And so that\u2019s what my amendment is about\u2026just making sure that those doctors have the ability to not be prohibited from speaking to those veterans about something that they may be otherwise considering through legal programs in their state.\u201d<\/p>\n The provision is 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 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 Another MilConVA provision being considered along with 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 \u201cWe lose up to 20 veterans a day to suicide. One is too many. Our nation\u2019s veterans continue to suffer tragic rates of suicide and opioid overdose deaths after they return home,\u201d Correa said in a press release. \u201cWhile the VA has finally begun to study the impact of breakthrough therapies like psychedelics on veterans\u2019 invisible wounds, the time is now to begin preparing for how these therapies will one-day be distributed to ensure the health and safety of our nation\u2019s most valiant warriors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my hope that my colleagues\u2014Democrat and Republican alike\u2014will join us in getting this amendment signed into law and kickstart our work to get our veterans the care they deserve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Bergman, who along with Correa is a co-chair of the Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus, added that \u201cafter serving our country with honor, many of our warriors return home only to face a different kind of battle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve spent years advocating for solutions to meet Veterans where they actually are, including exploring innovative therapies that show promise for treating the invisible wounds of war,\u201d he said. \u201cWe owe it to our Veterans to create more options for help and less hoops to jump through \u2013 they shouldn\u2019t come home to a new fight.\u201d<\/p>\n The House on Tuesday approved the rule under which the spending legislation will be considered, but did not begin taking up amendments, which is expected later this week.<\/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 To Vote On Letting VA Doctors Recommend Medical Marijuana To Military Veterans And Supporting Psychedelics Research<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The U.S. House of Representatives is set to consider amendments to a spending bill this week 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. The House Rules Committee on Monday made the cannabis andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":81878,"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\/81877"}],"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=81877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81879,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81877\/revisions\/81879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: House To Vote On Letting VA Doctors Recommend Medical Marijuana To Military Veterans And Supporting Psychedelics Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"