This week, a key House committee will take up large-scale legislation on spending. Members will also be voting on marijuana and psychedelic amendments that have been filed by members of both parties in recent weeks.
The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, to discuss an appropriations package for the Department of Defense. This is one of many spending packages that hope to use to reform drug policy. The committee is the one who decides whether or not amendments will be voted on on the House Floor.
Some cannabis and psychedelics measure are well-known, as they were introduced in previous sessions without being implemented. The measures cover a wide range of topics, including preventing the testing of military personnel and federal job candidates for marijuana to promoting research on psychedelics’ therapeutic potential.
The Rules Committee will take up the DOD Spending Legislation on Tuesday. Members will also be considering appropriations soon for the Departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and State and Foreign Operations.
These are the official summaries for the four spending bills that the committee will be considering:
Defense Department
Reps. Robert Garcia (D. CA) and Earl Blumenauer(D. OR): Blocks federal funding for testing marijuana of job applicants who live in states that have legalized marijuana.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL ): prohibits the use of federal funds for cannabis tests for enlistment and commissioning in certain armed services.
Reps. Blumenauer (D-OR), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Dave Joyce (R-OH): Decreasing funding for Operation and Maintenance, Army and increasing funding for Military Personnel, Army to support and expand the Army’s recruitment initiative to waive the prohibition on enlistees disqualified for tetrahydrocannabinol.
Rep. Rep.
Reps. Morgan Luttrell and Dan Crenshaw ): provide $15 million for DoD-wide Psychedelic Medical Clinical Trials. Cuts funding for RDTE by $15 million, specifically Emerging Technology Initiatives and Weapons and Munitions Energy Development. Also, Army Test Range Facilities.
Agriculture and FDA
Reps. Reps.
Rep. Rep.
Department of Homeland Security
Reps. Robert Garcia (D) and Earl Blumenauer(D-OR ): blocks funding for federal job applicants to be tested for marijuana in states that have legalized the use of marijuana.
State and Foreign Operations
Rep. Robert Garcia (D – CA ): blocks funding for federal job applicants to be tested for marijuana in states that have legalized the use of marijuana.
Garcia’s amendment is included in all spending bills to increase the number of departments that are prohibited from testing job applicants for marijuana.
Garcia proposed a version of this amendment for a spending bill in the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies category (MilCon/VA). This amendment was not permitted to be brought to the House floor. However, bipartisan legislators have praised the passage of the underlying bill which included separate marijuana measures.
The House passed two amendments that would allow VA doctors the ability to recommend medical cannabis to veterans. Another would encourage the research of the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as psilocybin or MDMA.
The Senate Appropriations Committee adopted a measure in its version of MilCon/VA legislation which would allow VA doctors to make medical marijuana recommendations. This will increase the chances that the reform makes it into the final package of laws to be signed.
The GOP-controlled House Committee is yet to decide how it will handle the new amendments when members return this week from their August recess. The panel has blocked many other bipartisan drug reform measures in other appropriations bills this session. However, it allowed the marijuana and psychedelics proposal to move forward.
The House Appropriations Committee’s report, which was attached to the spending bill, also contains a section that states that “VA clarified that VA statutes and regulations do not specifically prohibit a veteran who earns income from state-legalized marijuana activities from receiving a certificate of VA eligibility for home loan benefits.”
In July, the Senate passed a defense bill that included provisions prohibiting intelligence agencies such as the CIA or NSA from denying security clearances solely based on past marijuana usage. Other cannabis proposals such as that of Sen. Brian Schatz, D-HI, to allow medical marijuana use by vets , did not make it into the National Defense Authorization Act.
The Rules Committee blocked more than a dozen amendments on marijuana and psychedelics in the House version of NDAA. This happened in July. This includes a measure that was introduced by Garcia which would have prevented denials of security clearances to federal workers due to prior cannabis use.
House and Senate Appropriators have also passed large-scale spending bills, which include once again language to protect medical cannabis programs in states, as well a controversial riders to prevent Washington, D.C. implementing a regulated marijuana sale system.
State officials report that Connecticut saw a record $25 million worth of marijuana sold in August
Image element provided by Kristie Gianpulos.
The article Marijuana Moment : Here are the reform measures Congress will begin to consider this week.
