Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have enacted medical marijuana programs. Despite this expansion military veterans often face greater obstacles to gaining access to medical marijuana than other groups. Veterans suffer widespread health problems including chronic pain, traumatic brain injuries, and post-traumatic stress disorder at a rate higher than the general population.
Veterans Affairs doctors can't recommend marijuana as a treatment to veterans, even in states where medical marijuana is legal.
That could soon change under a measure approved this week by the U.S. Senate that would allow Veterans Affairs doctors to recommend marijuana to patients in New Jersey and across the country, as reported by Marijuana Moment.
U.S. military veterans would be allowed to receive recommendations for medical marijuana from government doctors under legislation approved by the Senate on Monday.
The provision, part of large-scale legislation to fund parts of the federal government including the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) through Fiscal Year 2019, would also protect veterans from losing their government benefits as a result of cannabis use that is legal under state law.
The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 86 to 5.
Republican leaders in Congress really, really don’t want their fellow lawmakers to have the chance to vote on marijuana amendments.
In the latest in a long series of roadblocks thrown up in front of developments on the issue over the past several years, a key House panel prevented four cannabis measures from reaching the floor on Wednesday night.
Three of the proposals concerned military veterans’ ability to access medical cannabis without punishment or hardship, and one was about water rights for marijuana and hemp growers.