The Massachusetts House of Representatives on Wednesday approved on second reading a supplemental budget bill that includes provisions aimed at increasing military veterans’ access to medical marijuana. The initial version of the legislation was filed by Gov. Maura Healey (D), though some provisions of her initial proposal were amended or removed by the Way and Means Committee on Tuesday.
One section of the bill would potentially allow veterans to receive a state medical cannabis card without having to get a recommendation from a doctor. The legislation would also add new qualifying conditions to the state’s medical cannabis program.
Third reading of the legislation in the House remains pending. After that step, the bill would advance to consideration in the Senate.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) continues to prohibit its providers from filling out medical marijuana recommendation forms. As a result, many veteran patients are forced to either seek outside, often expensive physician consultations or go without legal access to medical cannabis.
Under the advancing legislation, veterans in Massachusetts would be able to become registered medical marijuana patients by providing state officials with “official documentation from the federal Veterans Administration indicating a diagnosis of a debilitating medical condition; provided, that the [Cannabis Control Commission (CCC)] shall not require a written or electronic certification from a healthcare professional.”
In other words, VA doctors would not have to specifically recommend medical cannabis in order to help their patients get legal access. Instead, they could just diagnose them with a qualifying condition under the state’s law.
That latter clause of the provision in its current form is a change from Healey’s initial proposal. The governor’s version had more simply read that veterans under statute could use VA diagnosis documentation to get medical marijuana “without the need for a written or electronic certification from a healthcare professional,” without any reference to the CCC.
The bill as initially approved by the House also adds post-traumatic stress disorder, opioid use disorder and “a medical condition that produces chronic pain” to the definition of a “debilitating medical condition” that could qualify patients for medical cannabis.
The version that was filed by the governor did not include opioid use disorder. That condition was added during the legislative process.
Veterans and other adults over the age of 21 are already able to buy recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, but medical cannabis purchases are exempt from sales, excise and municipal taxes that apply in the adult-use market.
Medical patients also have higher purchase limits than adult-use consumers. They also have access to higher potency products than are allowed in the recreational market.
That measure would repeal laws allowing the regulated commercial sales of recreational cannabis and home cultivation while maintaining legal possession and continuing the medical marijuana system.
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