A Republican congresswoman reintroduced legislation to encourage research on the medical benefits of marijuana for veterans.
The Veterans Cannabis Analysis, Research, and Effectiveness Act (CARE Act), filed by Rep. Mariannette Miller Meeks (R – IA) last week, is identical to a previous measure she sponsored during last session.
This bill would require that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs conduct and support research relating “to the efficacy of forms of marijuana” in treating chronic pain, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and “other conditions determined by the Secretary.”
The legislation stipulates that the VA study must involve plants, extracts, three different varieties of cannabis, with varying concentrations of THC, CBD, and “various methods of cannabis delivery including topical application and topical inhalation and ingestion.”
VA would have to first submit a plan of research to the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees, and then make any requests for support to the studies. VA will have to report to panels on its progress every year for the next five years following the passage of the bill.
A Senate committee passed a separate bill in February that promotes research into the therapeutic benefits of marijuana for veterans with certain medical conditions. Last month, Senate Republicans prevented a motion to bring it to the floor.
Reps. Lou Correa, D-CA and Jack Bergman, R-MI, filed a House version of the standalone bill a few days before it was approved by the Senate committee.
The previous version of the legislation passed a House Committee in 2021 despite protests from VA officials, who claimed that it was too prescriptive. The measure was in both 2020 and 2018. However, neither version became law.
Correa had an exchange with VA Secretary Denis McDonough last year about marijuana and veterans. There were high expectations that the Department might change its mind on the legislation, but that has not happened yet.
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.
, a large defense spending bill enacted by the end of last session, excluded separate language that had been included in a previous House-approved version which would have allowed VA doctors to recommend medicinal cannabis to veterans who live in states where it is legal.
Recently, bipartisan House and Senate legislators re-filed bills to Legalize Medical Marijuana for Military Veterans.
This legislation will allow veterans to temporarily possess and use marijuana under federal law if doctors recommend it in accordance with the state laws. For the first time, doctors with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs would be able to make such recommendations.
The measure also authorizes VA to investigate the therapeutic potential of cannabis for pain and PTSD.
Both sides of the aisle in Congress have taken a proactive approach to introduce cannabis reform legislation during this session.
In both chambers bipartisan measures were introduced to safeguard banks that provide services to state-legal marijuana businesses, and the Senate’s version has already been heard .
Rep. Brian Mast, R-FL, filed a bill in the last month that would protect Second Amendment rights for people who use marijuana legally. This would allow them to buy and possess firearms which they are currently prohibited to have under federal law.
Mast is also co-sponsoring in this session a separate Bill from Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV), which would allow medical marijuana patients to buy and possess firearms.
Reps. Dave Joyce, R-OH and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-NY have introduced a bill that would provide federal grants to encourage state and local marijuana exclusions.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-OR, filed a bill last month to give state-legal cannabis companies the same federal tax deductions as other industries. He told Marijuana Moment he believed that the reform would eventually generate revenue to the government.
Joyce and House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, (D-NY), recently filed a bill designed to help prepare the federal government to legalize marijuana. The measure directs the attorney general form a commission that will study cannabis and make recommendations on how to regulate it in a similar way to alcohol.
Below, you can read the entire text of the Veterans Cannabis Research Bill.
The original Marijuana Moment article VA would study medical marijuana benefits for military veterans with PTSD under new GOP-led bill.
