Yesterday, a congressional conference committee negotiated the final details of a piece of legislation for the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regarding veterans and medical marijuana. If approved, this would allow government doctors to recommend medical marijuana to these military veterans.
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The committee or Republican House leaders ultimately decided against the funding and has even included a Senate-passed provision.
Medical Marijuana Denied to Vets
Back in June, the bill was approved by the Senate with an 85-to-5 vote, but the department would not have been able to spend any money enforcing its internal prohibition. Due to Republican House leaders blocking their colleagues from even being able to vote on the matter, a bicameral panel was tasked with merging the proposals into a single bill that can now be sent to President Donald Trump for his approval.
The conferees opted not to include the cannabis provision in the final legislation that was released yesterday.
Democrats Speak Out
It's no surprise that democratic representatives aren't happy about the medical marijuana ruling.
“Denying veterans the care they need by the doctors they trust is shameful,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) said in a statement sent to Marijuana Moment. “The Senate passed this amendment. It has broad bipartisan support in the House. This should have been a no brainer. Yet, Republican leadership has once again stymied progress toward fair and equal treatment for our veterans. Their continued neglect of commonsense and the will of the American people is a disgrace.”
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There are many topics that are polarizing among both Democrats and Republicans in the US, and marijuana is one of them. It doesn't matter which party holds the majority on Capitol Hill, the song is always the same: blocked bills based on political parties and complete disregard for personal opinions.
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This isn't the first time marijuana was blocked after winning initial victories. Back in 2016, both the House and Senate approved medical marijuana for military veterans, but because the two proposals' language differed from one another, they were ultimately denied.
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