President-elect Donald Trump recently announced his intention to nominate former Representative Doug Collins (R-GA) to head the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Trump’s choice for a VA leader raises concerns about how the agency might navigate current marijuana issues, particularly due to Collins’s prior record of voting against medical marijuana access for military veterans during his time in Congress.
While at the end of his tenure in the House, Collins shifted his position on cannabis policy when he advocated for the passage of a bipartisan bill to protect state marijuana programs from federal interference in 2019, the former representative voted three times against amendments to appropriations legislation that would have legalized medical marijuana recommendations to veterans from their VA doctors between 2014 and 2016.
Across both Republican and Democratic administrations, VA officials have historically opposed legislative proposals to reform the agency’s marijuana policies, including policies that would give its doctors permission to recommend medical marijuana to veterans. However, the current VA secretary has expressed openness to exploring internal changes, understanding and sympathizing with veterans who have shared the benefits they have experienced from marijuana.
Changing His Tune
If Collins is confirmed by the Senate or elevated to lead the VA via a recess appointment, he would be in a position to redirect the course for the agency; however, his conflicting record in Congress has left room for skepticism and concern about his willingness to make changes.
After years of voting against amendments to legalize medical marijuana, Collins created a buzz in 2019 when he called on Congress to pass legislation that would let states legalize marijuana without federal interference—one of the most encouraging moves in Collins’s history for medical marijuana advocates.
The 2019 move represented a major change in Collins’s tune. The former representative wrote in a letter to the Democratic leader of the Judiciary Committee that the panel should advance the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act. This legislation would have codified the protections that he previously voted against. Also signing the letter was Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who Trump has nominated to become the next U.S. attorney general.
“We believe this Committee and this Congress must act to clarify the rights and responsibilities, relative to cannabis, of individuals, physicians, businesses, medical patients, and law enforcement officials,” they wrote.
Growing Support for VA Marijuana Reform
It remains unknown whether Collins’s shift on wider state protections and other smaller reforms is a signal that he might have revised his stance on veterans’ medical marijuana access. Yet, while the agency has historically resisted marijuana reforms, there has been an increase in bipartisan support over the years to enact policy changes.
Despite state-level legalization developments over recent years, the VA issued a reminder in August that government doctors are still prohibited from recommending medical marijuana to veterans due to the drug remaining a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law. This notice came just a month after the Senate Appropriations Committee urged the department to look into medical marijuana as an alternative to opioids for veterans living with pain, as well as asked the agency to consider permitting its doctors to formally recommend medical marijuana to their patients in light of the Biden administration push to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.
In July, a group of nine U.S. senators called for the VA to “expeditiously” create a standard of care for veterans using medical marijuana and to allow the agency’s doctors to recommend cannabis to patients.
While introduced several times in recent years with bipartisan support, the Veterans Equal Access Act has yet to be enacted into law.
