Bipartisan lawmakers express public dissatisfaction with Congress’ inaction on marijuana reform
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The co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus issued a joint statement criticizing the inaction of the House Rules Committee, which opposed changes to the bipartisan spending law aimed at promoting veterans’ access to medicinal cannabis.
“We have a responsibility to provide our veterans with the care and treatment they need to recover from the wounds of war,” wrote Representatives Dave Joyce (R-OH), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Barbara Lee (D-CA). and Brian Mast (R-FL).
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“Our outdated state cannabis laws impair our ability to meet that responsibility,” the statement said.
The denied measures were intended to prevent the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from enforcing its current policy of banning VA physicians from recommending medicinal cannabis to veterans and reversing a Department order prohibiting reimbursement for medicinal cannabis .
“Unfortunately, despite the strong bipartisan support behind increasing access to medical cannabis for our veterans, Congress is allowing this interference to fester,” the bipartisan lawmakers added.
“We will not rest until Congress addresses the perverse impact that failed federal bans are having on our nation’s heroes and their health.”
Ultimately, the Home Rules Committee refused to consider these bipartisan changes, while some members argued that the reform proposal was unrelated to the appropriation process.
The Safe Harbor Act and the Veterans Equal Access Act were two separate bills sponsored by the co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. Last week, the House of Representatives passed an amendment as part of a defense bill that would address the issue of VA doctors being able to issue medicinal cannabis recommendations to veterans, Marijuana Moment reported.
Recently, bipartisan lawmakers introduced changes to increase access to medical care for veterans and protect public housing residents from evictions over cannabis allegations.
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Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), co-sponsored by Blumenauer and Lee, filed the above amendments to prevent the use of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds to comply with the federal ban Enforce cannabis use or possession in government-subsidized public housing for medicinal and recreational purposes. However, they chose to withdraw the changes because they had yet to build “the necessary support” for the reform.
“We think we can build it, but we haven’t yet,” Norton said. “Cannabis is still controversial on Capitol Hill and the President still has concerns about the issue.”
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.
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