Senate OKs VA Docs To Authorize Medicinal Marijuana for Veterans In States That Allow It. Good Idea? Bad Idea? Indifferent?

On the eve of Veterans Day, the Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would for the first time allow Veterans Health Administration doctors to authorize medical marijuana use for patients (NON-ACTIVE DUTY).

The Veterans Health Administration currently does not allow its physicians to discuss marijuana as a treatment option with patients in the nearly two dozen states with medical pot laws, forcing veterans to turn elsewhere for guidance and the paperwork necessary to acquire the drug.

State medical marijuana laws vary greatly. Some allow only a small number of conditions to be treated with the drug, while others like California have famously lax guidelines. The Obama administration largely tolerates state medical (and recreational) marijuana programs, despite marijuana possession for any reason outside limited research remaining a federal crime.

The Senate legislation won’t change the federal illegality of using marijuana as medicine or open the door to greater legal research through changing its classification as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act – which deems it without medical value – but it’s nonetheless a big win for reform advocates.

"We see this victory as a step toward a peace treaty with the government we volunteered to defend with our lives and as a step toward restoring our First Amendment rights and dignity as citizens," said T.J. Thompson, a disabled Navy veteran, in a statement circulated by the Drug Policy Alliance.

The news came as activist Garyn Angel arrived in soggy McPherson Square in downtown Washington, D.C., to prepare for a pro-medical marijuana demonstration. Angel, the founder and CEO of Magical Butter, plans to lead a group of veterans to the White House on Wednesday toting a giant pill bottle and touting marijuana as an alternate treatment for PTSD and other conditions.

"It’s an exciting time for veterans," Angel says. "Veterans should have access to cannabis regardless of their ZIP code," he adds, something that would require farther-reaching legislation.

The Senate measure was adopted by the Senate Appropriations Committee in May by a vote of 18-12, with four Republicans joining Democrats in favor. The larger spending bill to which it was attached – funding veterans and military construction projects – passed the Senate without opposition Tuesday.

The medical marijuana language still must survive a negotiated spending deal between leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The lower chamber narrowly rejected the proposal in April when it passed its own version of the bill.

But there may be cause for optimism. After House lawmakers rejected the companion amendment in a 213-210 vote (with 35 Republicans voting in favor), Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., told U.S. News he mistakenly voted “no” and that he “misread the amendment.” Another “no” vote, whose support could have assured victory, Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., told U.S. News the amendment didn’t go far enough.

The fact that the House version of the measure would have passed if Griffith and Garamendi voted in favor "should mean something," says Michael Collins, the Drug Policy Alliance's deputy director of national affairs, who believes significant bipartisan backing in both chambers boosts the chances of incorporation, even in the face of opposition from most Republicans.

A decision not to include the amendment would merely delay the inevitable, he says.

Last year, in what reformers hope will be a parallel, a spending amendment that passed the House but not the Senate, banning federal prosecutors and anti-drug agents from interfering with state medical marijuana laws, was included in a large spending deal that became law.