Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have refiled a bill to provide military veterans with access to medical marijuana.
Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), 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 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.
Mast, a military veteran himself who lost his legs during service in Afghanistan, said in response to a question from Marijuana Moment at a press conference on Thursday that “there’s absolutely progress going on, and I do have high hopes of policy and legislation moving” under the GOP-controlled House.
He added that he has had conversations with Republican leadership about this issue and pointed out that cannabis reform “touches every committee” and “every member” of Congress. The question is where lawmakers can find consensus on common sense solutions to problems that are identified on a
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