The funding bill to end the government shutdown passed by Congress last week made headlines because of provisions that redefine hemp and ban intoxicating cannabinoids, a policy change that threatens a $28 billion industry. But the funding bill is also significant for language that didn't make it into the measure: legislation that would have allowed Veterans Administration doctors to recommend the use of medical cannabis by their patients.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved spending bills this year that would have done just that, with slightly different language. Under the bipartisan legislation, the VA would have been prohibited using its budget to enforce rules that bar the department's doctors from recommending medical cannabis to their patients.
Despite approval from both chambers of Congress, however, the provisions to allow VA doctors to recommend medical cannabis were not included in the bill to fund the government and end the shutdown. Cannabis policy reform advocates decried the omission because many veterans seek the benefits of cannabis to help alleviate symptoms of medical conditions caused by their service.
"Denying our veterans access to a medicine that so many use to ease physical pain, or the trauma of PTSD, is straight cruelty," Adam Smith, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment.
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