A series of amendments to large-scale spending legislation would prevent certain federal employers from testing most job applicants for cannabis. Other congressional members are also pushing for access to psychedelics to military servicemen with certain mental conditions, and for the expansion of waivers to Army recruits that test positive for marijuana.
As the House Rules Committee posts amendments to various pieces of appropriations law, a common theme has emerged: marijuana drug testing. Multiple bipartisan legislators are aiming to relax restrictions to ensure that cannabis use doesn’t jeopardize federal employment opportunities or prevent a person from serving in military.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-CA has been particularly active in this regard. He recently filed amendments to enact a modest marijuana reform into spending measures that cover the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Homeland Security(DHS), U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration(FDA), as examples.
The amendments would prevent the agencies from using funds for drug testing to fill most federal positions across the majority of the states. The Agriculture version was submitted with Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-NY. The others are cosponsored and cosponsored by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-OR.
Garcia also proposed an amendment similar to the one above for a bill that funds Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies. This amendment was not permitted to be brought to the House floor. However, bipartisan legislators have praised the passage of the legislation which included separate marijuana measures.
The Rules Committee will now decide whether the other cannabis drug test amendments will be considered for consideration on the floor.
There are some differences between the two versions of Garcia’s reforms. While they all share the same goal, which is to change the federal agencies’ policies on drug testing for cannabis. They use different names to describe federal drug laws, and they also differ when it comes the list of states covered by the reform. One version excludes Ohio and Pennsylvania from the list for unclear reasons.
The Rules Committee also will consider a recently filed measure by Rep. Matt Gaetz, (R-FL), that would prevent DOD using its funds to conduct marijuana tests on people who are applying for military service or who are being commissioned into one of the armed forces.
Blumenauer and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), meanwhile, submitted an amendment that its summary says is meant to “support and expand the Army’s recruitment initiative to waive the prohibition on enlistees disqualified for tetrahydrocannabinol.” But that is effectively a messaging measure, as the amendment itself proposes to increase and decrease an identical amount of funding for DOD.
Separately Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-TX, filed an amendment to DOD spending bill to provide funding for “the Defense Health Agency to report to Congress about options to ensure active-duty military service members suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are able participate in clinical trial under the Department of Veterans Affairs to study the effectiveness of psychedelic drugs,” according to a brief.
The Crenshaw amendment, as well as the Blumenauer-Sherill amendment, do not mention the drug policy specifically. Instead, they increase and decrease funding in a non-related section of the bill. This is a tactic used by many members of Congress to communicate to federal agencies their key priorities, without changing the legislative text.
The committee, which is controlled by the GOP, has not yet decided how it will handle the amendments once the House returns next week from recess. The panel has prevented numerous bipartisan drug reform measures from being added to other appropriations bills this session. However, it allowed certain marijuana and psychedelics-related proposals to be advanced.
Gaetz, who cosponsored one of the MilCon/VA spending bill amendments passed by the House, would prevent VA from enforcing its policy which prohibits doctors from recommending medical cannabis to veterans in states where it is legal. The Senate Appropriations Committee has adopted a measure similar to the version of its spending bill. This increases the chances of the reform being included in the final package that will be signed into law.
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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.”
Last month, senators passed a defense bill that included provisions prohibiting intelligence agencies such as the CIA and NSA to deny 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 approved 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.
GOP congressman worries that moving marijuana to Schedule III could ‘allow Big Pharma to control it’
Photo by Mike Latimer.
The first time Marijuana moment published the post Lawmakers move to end marijuana testing for more federal job applicants and promote psychedelics access for military members.
