Congress rejects proposal to let VA doctors recommend medical marijuana

Tom Angell of marijuana majority alerted me to the news that Congress today rejected an amendment that would have let VA doctors recommend medical marijuana to patients in medical marijuana states.  The vote was 222 against, 195 in favor, with 14 not-voting.  

A few of the no votes caught my eye: Democrats Ann Kirkpatrick of Arizona (a medical marijuana state), Rick Larson of Washington (a legalization state), Sandy Levin of Michigan (a medical marijuana state) and last but not least DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida (a soon-to-be-medical marijuana state.)  

I imagine all four took votes that were both very much at odds with their districts generally and their core supporters in particular.  Of course, the Democratic party has quite a history of abandoning its base (usually to its own detriment in my opinion) in recent years, so I can’t say I’m surprised to see there are still some tone-deaf Democrats in Congress on this issue.  

In fact, in many ways the vote is notworthy for coming as close as it did.  I believe the last House vote on a marijuana reform proposal was 163 to 262 in 2012 (though there may be a more recent vote I’m forgetting), so support for changing marijuana laws seems like it may be picking up.