A bipartisan bill to provide military veterans with access to medical marijuana was reintroduced in Congress on Thursday.
Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Brian Mast (R-FL), co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, are the chief sponsors of the Veterans Equal Access Act. The measure has been introduced several times in recent years with bipartisan support but has yet to be enacted.
The legislation is narrowly tailored, simply allowing doctors at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to recommend medical marijuana to their patients in states where it’s legal. The sponsors recently urged colleagues to sign on to the legislation in a letter circulated to congressional offices.
Blumenauer acknowledges that some in Congress might not be ready to join the majority of Americans who support legalization, but said the incremental veterans reform is an example of legislation that could be enacted sooner rather than later.
“I think the prospects have never been better,” Blumenauer told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Thursday. “This is one where there’s overwhelming bipartisan support.”
“We have ill treated our veterans,” the congressman said. “There was a time when we passed out opioids to them like Tic Tacs while we denied them the ability
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