GOP Congressman Files Bill To Let Military Veterans Get Medical Marijuana Recommendations From Government Doctors

A GOP congressman has reintroduced a bill aimed at providing military veterans with access to medical marijuana.

Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, filed the Veterans Equal Access Act last week—the latest attempt to enact the measure that’s enjoyed bipartisan support over recent sessions but has yet to become law.

The bill would allow government doctors at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to recommend medical marijuana to their patients in states where it’s legal. They department would not provide cannabis, however, and veterans would use those recommendations to access it under existing state-legal dispensaries.

The veterans reform proposal, which mirrors committee-approved versions from past years, has also previously been pursued through the appropriations process as an amendment.

The Veterans Equal Access Act is a concise bill that supporters say would provide a modest but meaningful reform for the veteran community.

VA doctors are currently allowed to discuss medical cannabis with patients, but they’re not specifically authorized to issue recommendations, even in states that have legalized the plant for medical or recreational use.

The Congressional Budget Office conducted a fiscal analysis of an earlier version of the bill in 2020, finding that it would not cost the government anything to implement.

Mast’s bill is the second piece of standalone cannabis legislation to be filed in the 119th Congress. The first, sponsored by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), seeks to protect military veterans from losing government benefits for using medical cannabis in compliance with state law.

That measure would also codify that U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors are allowed to discuss the potential risks and benefits of marijuana with their patients.

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Meanwhile, advocates and stakeholders are awaiting the reintroduction of another bipartisan proposal that would protect banks from being penalized by federal regulars simply for working with state-legal cannabis businesses.

The GOP House sponsor of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act will be filing it again this year, but a spokesperson for his office told Marijuana Moment last month that the introduction is “not imminent” as some recent reports have suggested.

Two Republican senators separately introduced a bill this month that would continue to block marijuana businesses from taking federal tax deductions under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code 280E—even if it’s ultimately rescheduled.

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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.