Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. MAST. Mr. Chairman, I would say this: There is an attempt to divide the military.

We see each other as brothers and sisters in arms. I come from the military, and I can tell you this, Mr. Chairman: We don't care in the VA and we didn't care on the battlefield if the person carrying us on or the person whom we are carrying off is Black or Brown or White. We do have grooming standards, but I would say otherwise we don't care about the length of their hair or other things.

The left fundamentally despises, in my opinion, that the military is this last bastion of best man, best woman for the job that exists in our country, and they are doing everything that they can in the VA and in the military alike to insert themselves and create division that otherwise does not exist there.
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Mr. MAST. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of a bipartisan amendment to do something simple: give veterans access to every possible tool when it comes to the wounds of war, of which I am innately familiar.

The amendment is quite simple. It allows VA doctors in States with legal medical cannabis programs to discuss cannabis as a treatment option with their patients. I say this as clearly as I can: I have friends who are Rangers, Green Berets, and SEALs. I have seen pilots and every other job in the military sometimes find relief from the drugs, the narcotics that they have been prescribed in the VA or in the hospital. They find relief from both mental and physical wounds that they face.

However, what they face as well is a Department of Veterans Affairs that does not allow their primary care physicians, their post- deployment clinics to discuss the medical treatment options and work with them through the paperwork for those medical treatment options that are actually available in their States. If they are not working with their doctors to do that, then you have to ask yourself, who is it that they would be working with to do that for medical treatment that is legal in their State?

This amendment, again, would change that and make it the case that the Department of Veterans Affairs can assist those veterans for whom it is appropriate and recommended by their doctors that medical cannabis be a treatment option.

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Mr. MAST. Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

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Mr. MAST. Madam Chair, may I inquire how much time I have remaining?

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Mr. MAST. Madam Chair, I yield myself 1 minute, just to point out that my colleague from Florida from the other side is quite literally wrong.

VHA Directive 1315 says this plainly: VHA providers are prohibited from completing forms or registering veterans for participation in State-approved marijuana programs. It says it very literally.

My colleague is saying that, no, doctors can talk to them about this, and they can deal with it. No, if a doctor can't help them with the forms and help them with registering and help them with the dosages and the amounts and everything that goes on with a very specific medical policy, then that is a pretty confusing conversation for somebody to have if they can't take it to that level.

Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Joyce).

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Mr. MAST. Madam Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Again, I point out the merits of this: It is fact in the VA right now the cannabis policy is extremely confusing. It does very literally say VHA providers are prohibited from completing forms or registering veterans for participation in State-approved marijuana programs.

Those are conversations that you need to have with your primary care physician, nurse practitioners, and others. This is the reason that that policy needs to be changed. I yield back the balance of my time.

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