Bill would lift ban on VA doctors advising patients on medical marijuana

A new bill aims to make it easier for veterans to talk to their doctors about medical marijuana.

The Veterans Equal Access Act, introduced Thursday by Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore. and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., would lift a ban Veterans Affairs doctors face that prevents them from giving opinions or recommendations on medical marijuana to veterans living in states where its use is permitted.

"Post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury are just as damaging and harmful as any injuries that are visible from the outside," Blumenauer said in a statement, according to the Huffington Post. “Sometimes even more so because of the devastating effect they can have on a veteran's family. We should be allowing these wounded warriors access to the medicine that will help them survive and thrive, including medical marijuana, not treating them like criminals and forcing them into the shadows. It's shameful."

The bill has 10 bipartisan cosponsors from states that both do and do not have medical marijuana legalized.

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