VA Would Study Medical Marijuana Benefits For Military Veterans With PTSD Under New GOP-Led Bill – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

A Republican congresswoman has reintroduced a bill meant to promote research into the medical potential of marijuana for military veterans.

The Veterans Cannabis Analysis, Research, and Effectiveness (CARE) Act, filed last week by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), identical to an earlier measure she sponsored last session.

That bill would require the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to “conduct and support research relating to the efficacy and safety of forms of cannabis” for chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and “other conditions the Secretary determines appropriate.”

The legislation specifies that the VA studies must involve plants and extracts, at least three varieties of cannabis with different concentrations of THC and CBD and “varying methods of cannabis delivery, including topical application, combustable and non-combustable inhalation, and ingestion.”

VA would first have to submit a research plan to House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees and make any requests to support the studies. Over the course of five years after the bill is enacted, VA would need to send annual reports on its progress to the panels.

On the Senate side, a committee approved a separate bill in February to promote research into the therapeutic effects of marijuana for military veterans with certain conditions. However, Senate Republicans blocked a procedural motion to advance it to the floor last month.

A House companion version of the…