A pair of House lawmakers, Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Clay Higgins (R-LA) , introduced a bill that would require the Veteran’s Administration (VA) to do research on medical marijuana to determine its effectiveness against common vet issues such as chronic pain due to their service and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act is to break the loop of the Catch-22 the current VA administration finds itself in – their doctors cannot prescribe cannabis to vets where it might benefit until there is more research, and because it is still Federally illegal the VA assumes it cannot research the drug.

The language in the bill is more forceful than other bills that “allow” the VA to research cannabis, instead saying the VA “shall” conduct research. If passed, the Bill will force a reluctant VA to conduct research that could it hopes will positively impact the current non-prescribed use of opiods and other addictive substances among vets to self-medicate their PTSD, chronic pain and other service connected disorders.