House Votes for Easier Veterans Access to Medical Marijuana
- Action reflects shift in U.S. sentiment toward the treatment
- Chamber voted on Confederate flag, discrimination provisions
Medical marijuana buds dry in preparation for final packaging at the Tweed Inc. facility in Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada, on Nov. 11, 2015.
Photographer: James MacDonald/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The U.S. House voted to allow Department of Veterans Affairs doctors to recommend medical marijuana to their patients in states where it’s legal, marking the strongest sign yet that attitudes in Congress toward the drug are shifting along with public sentiment.
The House took several other emotional votes Thursday, including approving an amendment that would ban the display of the Confederate battle flag in veterans’ cemeteries and, in a particularly raucous moment, narrowly defeating another that aimed to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination in federal contracting.