Politics
Military Veterans Could Get Medical Marijuana Without A Doctor’s Recommendation Under New Bill From Massachusetts Governor
The governor of Massachusetts has filed legislation containing a provision aimed at increasing military veterans’ access to medical marijuana.
Gov. Maura Healey (D) on Wednesday sent lawmakers a supplemental budget bill that touches on a number of issues, including one section that would allow veterans to receive a state medical cannabis card without having to get a recommendation from a doctor.
Because the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) continues to prohibit its providers from filling out medical marijuana recommendation forms, many of their veteran patients are forced to either seek outside, often expensive physician consultations or go without legal access to medical cannabis.
But if Healey’s proposal is enacted, veterans in Massachusetts will be able to become registered medical marijuana patients by providing state officials with “official documentation from the Veterans Administration indicating a diagnosis of a debilitating medical condition, without the need for a written or electronic certification from a healthcare professional.”
In other words, VA doctors wouldn’t have to specifically recommend medical cannabis in order to help their patients get legal access and could instead just diagnose them with a qualifying condition under the state’s law.
The governor’s bill also adds post-traumatic stress disorder and “a medical condition that produces chronic pain” to the definition of a “debilitating medical condition” that could qualify patents for medical cannabis.
While veterans and other adults over the age of 21 are already able to buy recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, 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, and have access to higher potency products than are allowed in the recreational market.
“While President Trump is driving up costs with his war and tariffs, in Massachusetts, we’re doing everything we can to make life more affordable for people and businesses,” Healey said in a press release about the overall legislation. “This budget will lower costs at the gas pump, when buying concert and sports tickets, and on energy bills, while also making sure families can continue to access the health care, food assistance and services they rely on.”
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The governor’s measure, if enacted into law, will also help to ensure veterans’ continued access to cannabis if voters approve an initiative on the November ballot to roll back recreational marijuana legalization.
The 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.
A poll released last month found that Massachusetts voters oppose the marijuana legalization repeal measure, 55 percent to 33 percent.
A top labor union—the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Massachusetts State Council—is urging voters to reject the cannabis legalization rollback initiative.
The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, which regulates the legal industry, announced this month that the state has surpassed $10 billion in adult-use cannabis purchases since the market launched in 2018.
CCC Chair Chris Harding told Marijuana Moment that he can’t comment directly on the initiative and that the commission does not take positions on pending ballot questions or legislation, but he said that, in general, “repeal of the adult-use industry could eliminate thousands of jobs, hundreds of businesses and billions in tax revenue.”
In April, Healey signed legislation to double the legal marijuana possession limit for adults and revise the regulatory framework for the state’s adult-use cannabis market.
In 2024, the governor approved a military veterans-focused bill that includes provisions to create a psychedelics working group to study and make recommendations about the potential therapeutic benefits of substances like psilocybin and MDMA.
