Senate Allows VA Doctors To Recommend Marijuana For Military Veterans While Setting Apart Hemp THC Banning

The Senate approved a large spending bill that included provisions allowing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs doctors to recommend medical cannabis to veterans who live in states where it is legal.

In addition, the Senate amended its appropriations bill on Friday to remove a controversial proposal that would have banned hemp-based products containing any amount of THC.

The Senate Appropriations Committee cleared the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Food and Drug Administration, and Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration package last month.

Members of the committee adopted the amendment from Senator Jeff Merkley, D-OR that contained the cannabis and veteran language. AgFDA’s bill originally included hemp language, which stakeholders claimed would destroy the industry. However, an amendment agreed upon after tense discussions removed these provisions.

Merkley’s Merkley Amendment, which is attached to the Defense Appropriations Measure itself, was designed to mimic a standalone piece of legislation titled Veterans Equal Access Act. The Senate Committee’s proposal is different from what was passed by the House in its MilConVA Appropriations Measure of June.

On the House side, Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Dave Joyce (R-OH)—who are both co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus—sponsored the adopted companion amendment, which would increase veterans’ access to state medical marijuana programs and eliminate a current VA directive barring the department’s doctors from issuing cannabis recommendations.

Mast in February filed the standalone Veterans Equal Access Act—marking one of the latest attempt to enact the measure that’s enjoyed bipartisan support over recent sessions.

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.

Due to this, both chambers have adopted different languages this year. This will again be discussed in informal or bicameral conference committees and could, therefore, end up missing from the final package that is sent to President this time.

This is the House Version: 

“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Veterans Affairs in this Act may be used to enforce Veterans Health Directive 1315 as it relates to—

(1) the policy stating that ‘VHA providers are prohibited from completing forms or registering Veterans for participation in a State-approved marijuana program’;

(2) the directive for the ‘Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management’ to ensure that ‘medical facility Directors are aware that it is VHA policy for providers to assess Veteran use of marijuana but providers are prohibited from recommending, making referrals to or completing paperwork for Veteran participation in State marijuana programs’; and

(3) the directive for the ‘VA Medical Facility Director’ to ensure that ‘VA facility staff are aware of the following’ ‘[t]”It is against the law to recommend, refer or complete forms and register Veterans in state-approved marijuana programs.”

The Senate’s language is:

“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Veterans Affairs in this Act may be used in a manner that would—

(1) prevent a veteran from participating in an approved medicinal marijuana program by a state;

(2) Deny services to any veteran that is participating in a similar program.

The Department may not limit the health care providers’ ability to fill in forms, make recommendations or comply with these programs.

Also attached to the MilConVA bill that the Senate approved is a report that contains cannabis and psychedelics provisions, including a call to allow VA doctors to recommend medical cannabis if the federal government reschedules it.

Report: If there is a rescheduling, the VA should issue guidance that allows doctors at VHA to talk about, recommend, or facilitate the use of medical marijuana by VHA staff in States which have state-legal programs for medical marijuana, as permitted under Federal Law.

The VA is urged to investigate “the link between the treatment programs using medical marijuana approved by States and veterans accessing such programs.” This section also discusses how cannabis could be used to treat veterans.

Additionally, a section of the report for MilConVA addresses psychedelics-assisted therapy, noting that members understand “VA and other relevant Federal agencies are undertaking research to evaluate the efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapies in treating PTSD, major depressive disorder, and other conditions.”

The committee mandates that VA submit a report detailing the current research on the subject to Congress within 180 days after the bill is passed. It further directs that the VA “initiate and follow up a longitudinal analysis of veterans who are receiving such therapies over the course of five years.”

This report also discusses GI Bill as it relates to cannabis. It notes that “VA Policy Determinations have limited the Veterans’ ability to receive their Earned Benefits, including GI Bill.”

The Senate approved the AgFDA Appropriations Measure on Friday. It does not include provisions which hemp industry participants said were intended to effectively eliminate the hemp market through the prohibition of consumable hemp product with “quantifiable amounts” of THC.

Mitch McConnell, R-KY, who was instrumental in bringing hemp legalization to the United States under the 2018 Farm Bill pushed for the criminalization of THC. Rand Paul (R-KY), who had gotten it into the Ag/FDA bill base, then threatened McConnell with a procedural hold-up if the THC criminalization language was not removed. Paul’s proposal to remove the text was passed on the floor as part of a package.

McConnell, who had taken to the podium earlier that day, criticised Paul and others who were against the ban.

McConnell stated that he allowed his language to be removed from the bill in order to advance the package. But my efforts to weed out bad actors and protect children as well as support farmers will continue.

Andy Harris (R, MD), a prominent cannabis prohibitionist who was a member of the House Appropriations Committee in June and led that charge, drafted the hemp language into the Senate Spending Bill.

Meanwhile, Paul recently filed a standalone bill that would go in the opposite direction of the hemp ban, proposing to triple the concentration of THC that the crop could legally contain, while addressing multiple other concerns the industry has expressed about federal regulations.

He introduced legislation in June entitled the Hemp Economic Mobilization Plan Act. It mirrors versions he’s sponsored over the last several sessions.

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Meanwhile, a GOP-controlled House committee last month approved an amendment attached to a must-pass defense bill that would require a “progress report” on an ongoing psychedelic therapy pilot program for active duty military service members and veterans.

While Congress was notably receptive to recent psychedelic research proposals, the House Rules Committee blocked an amendment bipartisan to a budget bill, led by Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-TX, that would have provided DOD with another $10 million for clinical trials to investigate the therapeutic potentials of substances like ibogaine or psilocybin.