A Democratic Congressman believes that Congress should give the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs a mandate for the VA to study the risks and benefits of marijuana to military veterans.
On Thursday, during a hearing held by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Rep. Lou Correa, (D-CA), urged the panel members to support his bipartisan bill , the VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act.
When Correa was in the California Legislature, Correa said that veterans began approaching him “slowly, slowly but firmly”, and describing their struggle with post-traumatic disorder (PTSD), as well as their desire to use marijuana instead of the traditional pharmaceuticals prescribed to them.
He said, “I’ve spent years working at the VA doing research on what cannabis can do for you and what it cannot.” Lou and I cannot decide what our veterans want or need. They are the ones who should tell us what their needs are. “I believe that the majority of veterans are using cannabis.”
We’re simply asking the question, and we want the VA to answer it,” he said at a href=”https://veterans.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=6201″ rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>hearing/a>. “We’re just asking the question and we want VA to answer it,” he stated at the Hearing.
Correa stated that while he doesn’t like mandates, it is necessary to force the VA to conduct the research. This is because legislators have been “asking the VA to perform this task for several years” without success.
“I get it. There are more important things. “But this is important for vets,” he said. I just ask that you seriously consider this legislation. “Give the veterans what they ask for.”
Correa had a conversation with VA Secretary Denis McDonough last year about the issue of cannabis and veterans. There were some elevated expectations that the Department might reverse its course on the legislation. But that hasn’t yet happened.
In February, a Senate version of the Congressman’s bill passed in the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. This was the first time standalone cannabis legislation had ever been advanced by a committee in the chamber. Senate Republicans , however, blocked a motion in April to bring the bill to the floor.
The VA objected to a previous version of the bill that was passed by a House Committee in 2021. The measure was in the past, and passed through committees in both 2020 and 2018.
A Wednesday amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, NDAA, gave a separate directive to VA to study medical marijuana issues. The committee approved a separate provision that would require the study of psychedelics’ therapeutic potential.
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Rep. Mariannette Miller Meeks (R – IA) also filed a bill late last year to promote similar research into the potential medical benefits of marijuana for veterans suffering from PTSD, chronic back pain, and other conditions deemed suitable by the VA secretary.
A coalition of over 20 Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs ) wrote to the leaders of Congress late last year urging the passage of marijuana research legislation before the end the last Congress. But it didn’t work out.
In April, bipartisan lawmakers in the House and Senate also re-filed bills to legally legalize medical marijuana for veterans.
This legislation will allow veterans to temporarily possess and use marijuana in accordance with federal law as prescribed by their doctors, and according to state law. For the first time, physicians with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs would be allowed to make such recommendations.
Ron DeSantis says he would not decriminalize marijuana if elected president
The article Congress should force VA to study medical marijuana for military veterans after years of inaction, Lawmaker says at hearing first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
