House Votes To Let VA Doctors Recommend Medical Marijuana To Military Veterans And To Support Psychedelics Research
By
Marijuana Moment
Jun 25, 2025
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved amendments to a spending bill 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.
Two days after the House Rules Committee made the cannabis and psychedelics amendments in order for floor consideration, the full chamber agreed to attach them to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies (MilConVA) appropriations legislation on Wednesday.
One of the accepted proposals from Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Dave Joyce (R-OH)—who are both co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus—would increase veterans’ access to state medical marijuana programs and eliminate a current VA directive barring the department’s doctors from issuing cannabis recommendations.
After sharing his own experience with conventional medications following a serious injury during his time in military service, Mast said that, “in many cases” those drugs “leave our veterans in are, at the most extreme end of it, states of suicide. At other ends of it, just extreme states of dissatisfaction and lacking purpose in life. And in some cases, it does leave them in a better condition.”
“Veterans need to have options outside of these narcotics, and in many states, there are legal cannabis medical programs, and they need to have the ability when they’re being seen by their primary care physician inside of the VA to have discussions about whether cannabis is or is not right for them because they have access to it in their state,” Mast said.
In past years, both the House and Senate have included provisions in their respective MilConVA measures that would permit VA doctors to make the medical cannabis recommendations, but they have never been enacted into law.
1 comment:
I'm not crazy about the pot unless it is raised and sold by the government for medicinal use. I'm in full support of Ibogaine research and development. It has proven beneficial inn PTSD and opioid treatment.
Post a Comment