Bipartisan congressional lawmakers are urging House appropriators to ensure that a large-scale spending bill maintains language to allow U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to issue medical marijuana recommendations to veterans living in legal states.
In a letter sent to to House Appropriations Committee leadership on Friday that was led by Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chairs Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Brian Mast (R-FL), four members requested that leadership “maintain the protections” as part of the final 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (MilConVA) spending bill that’s sent to the president’s desk following bicameral negotiations.
Both the House and Senate included provisions in their respective MilConVA measures earlier this year that would permit VA doctors to make the medical cannabis recommendations, but the exact language differs. Blumenauer and Mast are asking the committee leaders to advocate for the adoption of the Senate version that Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) secured as part of his chamber’s bill.
That could help avoid a similar situation that played out in 2016, with both chambers including differing versions of the VA marijuana amendment in their appropriations bills, only to have the issue completely stripped out of the final deal that was signed into law.
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