By Tom Angell

 

A Democratic member of the U.S. House is accusing a Republican senator of lacking compassion after he helped block expanded access to medical marijuana for military veterans and accused them of just wanting to get high.

“These wounded warriors should be treated with dignity, respect and concern, and we should be helping them access the care they need,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) wrote in an open letter to Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) on Wednesday. “It is simply unconscionable that instead, you disparage them as drug addicts.”

Kirk was a member of a House-Senate conference committee that stripped provisions from a funding bill which would have allowed military veterans to receive medical marijuana recommendations through the Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.).

In May, the House approved an amendment to let veterans get medical cannabis recommendations from V.A. doctors by a vote of 233 – 189. On the same day, the Senate passed its version of legislation to fund the V.A. through 2017, which included a medical marijuana provision that had already been attached to the bill by the body’s Appropriations Committee in a vote of 20 – 10.

During a brief debate before the appropriations panel’s approval, Kirk voiced concerns that the amendment would lead to more marijuana use. “I don’t think we have too few high veterans out there,” he said.

In the new letter, Blumenauer told Kirk that his words are “not only inappropriate, but dismissive of the serious issues faced by our veterans.”

After bills pass both the House and Senate, leadership appoints a conference committee made up of members from either chamber who then meet to reconcile the differences into a final package to be sent to the president for enactment.

Marijuana policy observers expected that the conference committee would include protections for veterans who need medical cannabis since the measures passed so handily through bipartisan votes in both chambers.

But the final V.A. spending package approved by negotiators, including Kirk, was totally silent on the issue, forcing veterans who want medical marijuana to continue to seek recommendations from doctors outside the V.A., which can be costly and time-consuming.

“Instead of standing up and fighting for veterans in Illinois and around the country, you, however, introduce unwelcome mockery into the debate,” Blumenauer wrote. “Are you really opposed to giving doctors more options to treat our nation’s veterans? Where is your courage? Where is your sense of moral obligation to help those who served to protect us? I implore you to show compassion, change course, and support this bipartisan effort.”

In an interview with The Cannabist, Blumenauer said there will be a “political price that’s paid by this.”

Kirk is locked in a tough reelection battle this year against Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D), a military veteran who lost both her legs in Iraq.

As for the medical cannabis amendment, it may still have a chance to be enacted.

The House approved the conference committee report on the V.A. bill in June, but a Senate procedural motion failed to earn enough votes to allow the legislation move forward. While the main dispute on the bill concerned funding to fight the Zika virus, medical cannabis supporters now have another chance to convince conferees to reconsider including the marijuana language in a new proposal.

Meanwhile, the V.A. policy disallowing its doctors from recommending medical marijuana in states where it is legal actually expired on January 31 but, under the department’s procedures, the ban technically remains in effect until a new policy is enacted.

Advocates expect a new policy soon, but aren’t sure what it will say. In February 2015, a top V.A. official testified before a House committee that the department is undertaking “active discussions” about how to address the growing number of veterans who are seeking cannabis treatments.

Kirk hasn’t yet responded to Blumenauer’s letter.