The governor of Massachusetts has filed legislation containing a provision aimed at increasing military veterans’ access to medical marijuana.
Gov. Maura Healey (D) on Wednesday sent lawmakers a supplemental budget bill that touches on a number of issues, including one section that would allow veterans to receive a state medical cannabis card without having to get a recommendation from a doctor.
Because the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) continues to prohibit its providers from filling out medical marijuana recommendation forms, many of their veteran patients are forced to either seek outside, often expensive physician consultations or go without legal access to medical cannabis.
But if Healey’s proposal is enacted, veterans in Massachusetts will be able to become registered medical marijuana patients by providing state officials with “official documentation from the Veterans Administration indicating a diagnosis of a debilitating medical condition, without the need for a written or electronic certification from a healthcare professional.”
In other words, VA doctors wouldn’t have to specifically recommend medical cannabis in order to help their patients get legal access and could instead just diagnose them with a qualifying condition under the state’s law.
The governor’s bill also adds post-traumatic stress disorder and “a medical
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