A key U.S. Senate committee has approved a spending bill with an amendment allowing doctors at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to discuss and recommend medical marijuana to patients living in legal states.
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed the cannabis amendment from Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in a voice vote on Thursday before advancing the overall legislation, which provides funding for VA for the 2024 Fiscal Year.
The measure “simply says, in states that have a medical cannabis program, that a veteran’s doctor can talk to their veteran patient about the pros and cons of medical cannabis and fill out related paperwork should a veteran decide to participate in a state program where such paperwork is required,” the senator said.
Watch the committee discuss the marijuana and veterans amendment, starting around 1:08:15 into the video below:
The amendment would achieve the same policy outcome as a standalone bill that was refiled on the House side from Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.
The Veterans Equal Access Act has been introduced several times in recent years with bipartisan support—and moved through committee and floor approval a number of times—but has yet
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