[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6553]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    VETERANS EQUAL ACCESS AMENDMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, one of the great tragedies of our time 
is our failure to adequately deal with the needs of our veterans 
returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. We sent over 2 million brave 
men and women to fight under very difficult circumstances, to say the 
very least. While I was convinced from the beginning that the war was a 
tremendous mistake, that is all the more reason that we should work to 
protect those veterans as they return home with wounds that are both 
visible and, in some cases, unseen.
  It is no secret that these returning veterans have placed quite a 
strain on our VA facilities, which coincides with a national opioid 
epidemic. Prescription painkillers steal the lives of 78 Americans 
every day. Over 20,000 were killed last year, and it often leads to 
heroin addiction if their supply of opioid pills is interrupted.
  As veterans with PTSD, chronic pain, and any number of ailments are 
looking for relief, lethal opioid overdoses among VA patients are 
almost twice the national average. We are doing something wrong. This 
is at a time when the overwhelming number of veterans say to me that 
marijuana has reduced PTSD symptoms and their dependency on addictive 
opioids. Yet the VA official policy prevents their doctors who know 
them best from talking to our veterans about this, even in States where 
it is legal.
  In 24 States, the District of Columbia, and Guam, medical marijuana 
at the recommendation of a physician is legal. In those States, it is 
often used as an alternative to the addictive opioids to treat chronic 
pain. Fourteen States allow for medical marijuana to treat PTSD. Yet, 
veterans who are seeking relief from something that has proven to make 
a difference for many of their peers cannot get help from their VA 
doctor, even in States where medical marijuana is legal.
  This is outrageous. It is time for us to acknowledge our debt to 
those veterans and allow their personal VA physician, the doctor who 
knows them best, to be able to consult with them about medical 
marijuana in accordance with State law.
  My amendment doesn't authorize the possession or use of marijuana at 
VA facilities, but it would allow physicians to treat the whole patient 
and to give them their best advice. We should not force our veterans to 
go to another doctor and pay for the service out of their own pocket 
with somebody who doesn't know them as well as their own doctor.
  I would strongly hope that my colleagues would vote in favor of the 
Veterans Equal Access amendment in the MILCON-VA bill coming forward 
today. These men and women who have done so much for us and come home 
seeking help in dealing with health and coping with their return 
deserve our best. Forcing the VA to turn a blind eye to a potential 
useful therapy--something that is perfectly legal in their State--is 
not just shortsighted; I think it is cruel and unfair.
  I have listened to the many stories of veterans who have found that 
medical marijuana has made a huge difference in their return, recovery, 
and readjustment. Importantly, it doesn't subject them to the danger of 
being part of the opioid epidemic that has been visited upon our 
veterans.
  We can help stop the tragedy of VA veterans dying of opioid overdoses 
at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the population by at least 
allowing their doctors to work with them, considering medical marijuana 
as an alternative therapy.

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