A GOP congressman has filed the primary marijuana invoice of the 119th Congress, searching for to guard navy veterans from shedding authorities advantages for utilizing medical hashish in compliance with state legislation.
The measure from Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) would additionally codify that U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) docs are allowed to debate the potential dangers and advantages of marijuana with their sufferers.
Steube has persistently championed this particular reform, filing multiple versions of the “Veterans Cannabis Use for Safe Healing Act” over the previous a number of Congresses. This newest model is an identical to the final two payments he launched.
VA docs are at the moment permitted to debate hashish with sufferers and doc their utilization in medical information, and people veteran sufferers are already shielded by company coverage from shedding their advantages for marijuana use—however the invoice would enshrine these insurance policies into federal statute so they might not be administratively modified sooner or later.
“As a veteran, I’m committed to ensuring that veterans receive the care they deserve, and I know that sometimes that care can include medical marijuana,” Steube mentioned in a press release to Marijuana Moment when he filed the final model. “Receiving the appropriate treatment to address your health care needs—using products that are legal in the state in which you live—should not preclude you from your Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits.”
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The model that the congressman launched three periods in the past was extra expansive, containing a notable provision that additional allowed VA physicians to formally fill out written suggestions for medical marijuana.
But that language was omitted from these final three iterations—together with the brand new bill—which might preserve obstacles to entry given that the majority state medical hashish packages require a written suggestion, which means many veterans must outsource their healthcare to a non-VA supplier with a purpose to qualify for authorized entry to marijuana.
Steube’s workplace beforehand instructed Marijuana Moment that the omission was essential with a purpose to advance an earlier version through a House committee in 2020 as an modification to a different invoice.
While the absence of language round discussing and recommending medical marijuana isn’t ideally suited from advocates’ perspective, the invoice would nonetheless be a modest step for veterans, making it so VA couldn’t transfer to disclaim them advantages for utilizing hashish in accordance with state legislation.
Meanwhile, advocates and stakeholders are awaiting the reintroduction of one other bipartisan proposal that will defend banks from being penalized by federal regulars merely for working with state-legal hashish companies.
The GOP House sponsor of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act shall be submitting it once more this 12 months, however a spokesperson for his workplace instructed Marijuana Moment final month that the introduction is “not imminent” as some recent reports have suggested.
Read the text of the newest “Veterans Cannabis Use for Safe Healing Act” under:
Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.
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