Veterans Equal Access Act

Veterans Equal Access Act

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to authorize VA health care providers to (1) provide veterans with recommendations and opinions regarding participation in their state's marijuana programs, and (2) complete forms reflecting such recommendations and opinions.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8197 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8197

 To authorize Department of Veterans Affairs health care providers to 
      provide recommendations and opinions to veterans regarding 
               participation in State marijuana programs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 23, 2022

Mr. Blumenauer (for himself, Mr. Mast, Mr. Cohen, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. Lee 
of California, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Norton, Mr. Panetta, Ms. 
  Scanlon, Ms. Strickland, Ms. Titus, Mr. Perlmutter, Ms. Newman, Ms. 
 Mace, Mr. Joyce of Ohio, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Kahele, Mr. San Nicolas, Mr. 
Peters, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Meijer, Mr. Posey, Mr. Gaetz, and Mr. Correa) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize Department of Veterans Affairs health care providers to 
      provide recommendations and opinions to veterans regarding 
               participation in State marijuana programs.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Equal Access Act''.

SEC. 2. PROVISION BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS HEALTH CARE 
              PROVIDERS OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND OPINIONS REGARDING 
              VETERAN PARTICIPATION IN STATE MARIJUANA PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall authorize physicians and other 
health care providers employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs 
to--
            (1) provide recommendations and opinions to veterans who 
        are residents of States with State marijuana programs regarding 
        the participation of veterans in such State marijuana programs; 
        and
            (2) complete forms reflecting such recommendations and 
        opinions.
    (b) State Defined.--In this section, the term ``State'' means each 
of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
Puerto Rico, any territory or possession of the United States, and each 
federally recognized Indian Tribe.
                                 <all>