Congress Votes To Permit Military Veterans Access To Medical Cannabis
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May 19, 2016
Members of the US House of Representatives voted today for the first time to expand military veterans’ access to medicinal cannabis in states that allow it.Members voted 233 to 189 in favor of the Veterans Equal Access Amendment, offered by Rep. Blumenauer (D-OR) to the Fiscal Year 2017 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, that prohibits the federal government from sanctioning V.A. physicians who wish to recommend cannabis therapy to their patients.
“We should not be limiting the treatment options available to our veterans,” Rep. Blumenauer opined on the House floor.
Under the provision, military veterans who reside in states with active medical marijuana programs would be able to obtain a recommendation from their V.A. physician rather than having to seek out a private doctor.
The vote is a marked change from last year, when House members defeated a similar amendment 213 to 210.
You can watch today’s debate and vote here. A roll call of the amendment vote is here.
Members of the US Senate Appropriations Committee previously voted in April in favor of a similar provision. This afternoon, legislation containing the amendment was approved on the Senate floor.
The House and Senate versions of FY 2017 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations bill will now await a concurrence vote prior to being sent to the President.
16 Responses to “Congress Votes To Permit Military Veterans Access To Medical Cannabis”
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WOW…
God Bless America, our veterans don’t have to lose their VA doctor to light up and stop the opiate suicide.
Ol Earl put a dent in the veteran Chair Dent, didn’t he?… “I-uh-I-I-re-reluctantly V-v-vote nay?” said a Republican Representative from Pennsylvania… Representing a state That JUST legalized medical marijuana… The 24th state to do so… The CHAIR of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs… and he just stuck a roll of bills up his @$$, and stood up in front of God and everybody in opposition to saving our veterans lives with access to marijuana from their own legalized state! That blew my mind! That footage was AMAZING, Paul, and THANK you for the link to the rollcall. (I knew my spineless two-faced rep. Lamar Smith mr.”fight 4 veterans” himself would vote against this bill but in your FACE you P.O.S. Legislators, it passed ANYWAY!)
And how bout that ending; “The nays got it,” The NAYS GOT IT? WTF? The I’s sounded like an army of veterans… The nays sounded like a bunch of dying GOATS! …but THE NAYS GOT it? :-/ Fortunately ol Earl really HAS a spine and stood up for a “counted vote,” and it passed.( …Nayin and a studderin like a buncha dyin billy goats…)
That was oddly reminiscent of last Saturday in Vegas when Hillary’s campaign wonders why delegates became furious at the Democratic chair for slamming the gavel on Bernie for the NAYS, and storming out like an evil girl who trashed the cake because it wasn’t her birthday… (No chair throwing, I looked at the video). It’s just too bad that not enough Independents register as Democrats in time to vote for Sanders. (California cut off is the 23rd).
This is great news for Texas as we prepare for the next legislative amendment to improve our bill to put the “compassion” into “compassionate use.”
Special thanks to Democratic Representative Earl Blumenauer, OR and Republican Representative Joe Heck, NV for working across the aisle on this bill to save our veterans lives, like Congressman are supposed to. Let this roll call be the I or Nay we vote in November!
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2016/roll221.xml
It’s about time! Gratz to all the people in congress that voted yes on this you need to keep your jobs. To those that Voted NO! I suggest you find other employment.
This is a step in the right direction! I kW we could do it!
Knew not kW
I think this is a good thing. BUT why not all vets. You can get the help you really need if you move to a different state? Such a missed opportunity.
Because then they would be telling people to break the law. This is a nice bill and all but I would love to see one that encompasses all the states that removes it off the controlled substance list. This bill gives me hope that there might be change coming down the line but we’ll see.
So even Congress now officially recognizes the medicinal value in Marijuana…yet it remains a Schedule I classification??? Shaking my head. Just one more example of the obvious stupidity of our Government and why we are fed up with the current establishment.
So true. A civil discussion would be the Constitutional process according to our Bill of Rights:
Congress shall make no law …abridging … the right of the people … to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. (Amendment 1)
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right …to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor. (Amendment 6)
I was thinking the same thing! Congress has officially recognized that cannabis has medicinal value. So, why does congress still believe that cannabis users should be considered criminals?
Oh yeah, sometimes I have to remind myself it’s all about the $$$ in many of their decisions… It is a very embarrassing thing for “The Land of the Free” to continue to cling to the idiocy, lies, and propaganda of the past.
Law Enforcement is just as bad or worse than our elected leaders when it comes to the drug war. They have profited greatly at the expense of the American people they supposedly serve and are trying very hard to maintain their gravy train. Of course, they all (except perhaps the very stupidest among them) know that cannabis is not the dangerous drug they like to portray… Jerks!
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Emma Lazarus quote-on-the-Statue-of-Liberty
“Give me your tired Congress, your rich,
Your sequestered masses yearning to get drunk,
The wretched refuse of your teaming and corruption.
Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed, to hell:
I lift my lighter beside the golden door.”
Todd quote on NORML
I was diggin through the archives for an old song I wrote here a couple years back for Sgt. Begin, a brave veteran whose testimony for the medical efficacy of marijuana to treat opiate addiction qualified it as medicine. Even though Judge Mueller shot down the admissable evidence concluding “Congress doesn’t have to be right,” we are now observing a string of victories for veterans including the Supreme Court’s rejection of the political theater to declare Colorado’s legalization unconstitutional from AG’s of NE and OK, to states accepting PTSD as treatable with marijuana, and now this amendment to allow veterans to have VA recommendation in those states.
So I found that old song I wrote and decided to make some of my own “amendments” to bring the song up to date… I’ll include it, in the interest of limited space, on my next post:
end all wars except those which battle ignorance.
\
https://youtu.be/csbJnBKqwIw
Julian says:
November 11, 2014 at 10:11 am
Oh did you hear of the win
Of ol Sgt. Begin
They sent him to war
But the war was within
In one dark battle
18 soldiers fell
Then back in the saddle
Began young Begin’s Hell…
They regrouped him n then
Back to Iraq again
Asufferin from PTSD
What a sin…
Medics filled him with morphine
Th’day they shot his elbow off clean
As they dragged him off cryin
“Doc, what does this mean?”
As he struggled with chills
The VA filled him with pills
Instead of bullets he’s dyin
From visions that kills…
Lord only knew what to say
The day took his girl away
For those pills they kept givin
Took his baby away…
Wounded out in the rain
How could he control this pain?
Life wasnt worth livin
Opiate addiction’s insane
Thats when he discovered
Some weed in the cupboard
And ol Sgt. Begin
Just consciously hovered
As he looked at his life
He managed his strife
He brought back his baby
An lookin for a wife…
Well the doctors sat still
N’said “its weed or the pill
Sgt. Begin chose weed
An now his life is a thrill
In a Court in Cali land
On a Federal stand
Judge Mueller allowed
What he tried to understand…
“Dr. Madras,” said Begin
“You say weed aint medicine,”
But he could not stand idly by
And let that lyin bitch sin…
It was a terrible night
The real bitch was in sight;
Judge Mueller said “Congress…
“…don’t have to be right”
The cards they were dealt
Begin’s head his hands heldt
I cannot imagine
The way that he felt
But his words caught on fire
The whole drug empire
Now doctors recommend
You don’t hire a liar
The VA chair clown
Had to sit his @$$ down
Ol Earl Blumenauer
Took truth to law-town
So if you hear what i wrote
You best be ready to vote
And honor our soldiers
With this passing note…
Pass IiIiIIIiIIIiiiiit….
Don’t HarAAAaaAaAaaasiiiiiiiiit!
A good first step but many of the most needy will never get the medicine recommended until federal laws are amended.The VA needs to step up to the plate and pay for the medication for those who can’t afford it.
IT’S ABOUT TIME!MY BROTHERS-SISTERS,HAVE BEEN IGNORED FOR FAR TO LONG…SOME PEOPLE (SLOWER N-OTHERS)BUT!CONGRESS TAKES 65 YEARS?? NO HOPE AT ALL