President-elect Donald Trump has announced his intent to nominate former Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) to head up the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)—a choice that raises questions about how the agency might navigate marijuana issues given his prior record of voting against medical cannabis access for military veterans during his time in Congress.
Collins did seem to shift his position on cannabis policy toward the end of his tenure in the House, however, advocating for the passage of a bipartisan bill to protect state marijuana programs from federal interference in 2019. But between 2014 and 2016, he voted three times against amendments to appropriations legislation that would have allowed veterans to receive medical cannabis recommendations from their VA doctors.
VA officials have routinely—across multiple Republican and Democratic administrations—opposed legislative proposals to reform the agency’s marijuana policies, including those that would give its doctors permission to recommend medical marijuana. The current VA secretary has expressed openness to exploring internal changes, sympathizing with veterans who’ve shared their experiences benefitting from cannabis, but so far the rules have not changed.
If confirmed by the Senate or otherwise elevated to lead VA via a recess appointment, Collins would be in a position to chart a different course for the agency. But his mixed record in Congress leaves ample room for skepticism about his willingness to do so.
Perhaps most encouraging for advocates following the incoming administration, and specifically cannabis policy at VA, Collins made waves in 2019 when he called on Congress to pass legislation to let states legalize marijuana without federal interference.
That represented another major flip, as he’d voted three times against floor amendments to prevent DOJ from intervening in state marijuana programs, as well as narrower proposals covering only medical cannabis programs.
Then, in 2019, he began to change his tune, writing in a letter to the Democratic leader of the Judiciary Committee that the panel should advance the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act, which would have codified the protections he previously opposed. The letter was also signed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who Trump has since nominated to become the next U.S. attorney general.
“We believe this Committee and this Congress must act to clarify the rights and responsibilities, relative to cannabis, of individuals, physicians, businesses, medical patients, and law enforcement officials,” they wrote.
Also in 2019, Collins voted in favor of a bipartisan bill to protect banks that work with state-legal marijuana businesses from being penalized by federal regulators. His position on federal legalization is less clear, as he skipped a 2020 House floor vote on a Democratic-led measure to tax and regulate cannabis.
Collins also opposed two measures to protect state hemp programs in 2014, before pivoting to support similar proposals the next year. He also supported a 2015 amendment to shield people from being penalized by the Justice Department for activity in compliance with state laws allowing limited access to CBD medical cannabis preparations.
Whether Collins’s shift on broader state protections and other modest reforms signals that he might have similarly revised his stance on veterans medical cannabis access remains to be seen. But while VA has generally resisted marijuana reforms affecting the agency, there’s been growing bipartisan support over the years to enact policy changes.
In August, VA issued a reminder that, while despite state-level legalization developments, government doctors are still prohibited from recommending medical cannabis to veterans—at least as long as it remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law.
That notice came about a month after the Senate Appropriations Committee urged the department to explore medical marijuana as an alternative to opioids for veterans, and it also asked the agency to consider allowing its doctors to formally recommend cannabis to their patients in light of the Biden administration push to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
The same panel also approved a separate spending bill in July with an amendment allowing VA doctors to discuss and recommend medical marijuana to patients living in legal states. The committee similarly passed a veterans and cannabis amendment last session and in prior years.
A group of nine U.S. senators in July called on VA to “expeditiously” develop a standard of care for veterans using medical marijuana and allow the department’s doctors to recommend cannabis to patients in light of the Biden rescheduling effort.
On the House side in June, the chamber approved a similar bipartisan amendment to their version of the MilConVA bill that would authorize VA doctors to issue medical marijuana recommendations to veterans.
The measure would achieve the same policy outcome as a standalone bill that was refiled on the House side from Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.
The Veterans Equal Access Act has been introduced several times in recent years with bipartisan support—and moved through committee and floor approval a number of times—but has yet to be enacted into law.
Last year, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee approved another bill to direct VA to carry out studies into the therapeutic potential of marijuana for military veterans with certain conditions—marking the first time that standalone cannabis legislation ever advanced through a panel in the chamber. But Senate Republicans blocked a procedural motion to move it to the floor.
A coalition of more than 20 veterans service organizations (VSOs) sent a letter to congressional leaders in 2022 to urge the passage of a marijuana and veterans research bill before the end of the last Congress. But that did not pan out.
Bipartisan House and Senate lawmakers have also filed bills to legalize medical cannabis for military veterans.
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