Blumenauer, Joyce, Lee Urge Biden Admin To Annul VA Directive Prohibiting Doctors From Recommending Medical Marijuana To Veterans

Three bipartisan congressional lawmakers are urging the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reconsider its directive constraining VA doctors from helping veterans access medical marijuana in states where it is legal.

What happened: Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D), founder and co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, alongside Congressman Dave Joyce (R) and Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D), sent a letter to Thursday to VA Secretary Denis McDonough calling for more actions "to ease the VA's antiquated marijuana restrictions rooted in the racist drug policy."

The letter comes after the lawmakers, along with Representative and an Afghanistan War veteran Brian Mast (R), successfully passed an amendment to the House VA funding package to prohibit federal funds from being used to enforce VA restrictions on medical cannabis.  

Under the current federal law, VA doctors are not allowed to recommend veterans to participate in state-legal medical marijuana programs.

Why it matters: "Without their VA provider's honest recommendations and option to provide referrals and registration forms, veterans are left to seek care outside of the VA system to participate in state-legal medical marijuana programs. This disrupts veterans' continuity of care and unfairly bars veterans from accessing treatment their states have legalized," the lawmakers wrote."No one is better qualified to make recommendations on care for veterans than veterans working with their VA health care providers. Placing arbitrary restrictions on those decisions is a disservice to our veterans."

See Also: Veterans Affairs Is Not Preventing Suicides Successfully, Says GOP Rep. As Congressional Committee Approves Cannabis And Psychedelics Bills

The lawmakers referred to recent cannabis reclassification actions saying that even though the rule-making process is still ongoing, the federal government has officially recognized that cannabis has been accepted for medical use in the U.S., pointing out that this should be taken into account by the VA.

"Continuing to deny the medical use of marijuana in 38 states by prohibiting care for veterans thatothers access outside the VA system is an antiquated and harmful practice," the letter reads.

Not The First Try

This is not the first time a group of bipartisan lawmakers have urged for veterans' access to medical marijuana in legal states through the VA. Last December, Blumenauer, Mast, Dina Titus (D) and Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R) sent a letter to honorable Kay Granger (R) and honorable Rosa DeLaurochair (D), chair and ranking member of House Committee on Appropriations, respectively. “We write to urge you to maintain the protections included in both the House and Senate Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations bills to prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from prohibiting or penalizing physicians for recommending medical marijuana to any patient requesting its use in a state where such activities are legal," the congressional lawmakers wrote at the time.

Blumenauer, Joyce and Leed concluded the Thursday letter with optimism "I hope you will take this opportunity in stride to end the VA's outdated restrictions on medical marijuana."

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