Tag: veterans

House Passes Veterans-Focused Marijuana And Psychedelics Amendments

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved amendments to a large-scale spending bill that would authorize U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to issue medical marijuana recommendations to military veterans and support psychedelics research and access.

One day after the Rules Committee cleared the proposals for floor consideration, the full chamber adopted them as part of appropriations legislation covering Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies (MilConVA) in a series of votes on Tuesday.

The cannabis measure passed in a vote of 290-116, while the two psychedelics proposals were adopted on voice votes.

One of the accepted proposals from Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Dave Joyce (R-OH)—who together are the co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus—would allow veterans to access state medical marijuana programs and eliminate a VA directive barring the department’s doctors from issuing cannabis recommendations.

SEC. 419. None of the funds appropriated or other wise made available to the Department of Veterans Affairs in this Act may be used to enforce Veterans Health Directive 1315 as it relates to—

(1) the policy stating that ‘‘VHA providers are prohibited from completing forms or registering Veterans for participation in a State-approved marijuana program’’;

(2) the directive for the ‘‘Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management’’ to ensure that ‘‘medical facility Directors are aware that it is VHA policy for providers to assess Veteran use of marijuana but providers are prohibited from recommending, making referrals to or completing paperwork for Veteran participation in State marijuana programs’’; and

(3) the directive for the ‘‘VA Medical Facility Director’’ to ensure that ‘‘VA facility staff are aware of the following’’ ‘‘[t]he prohibition on recommending, making referrals to or completing forms and registering Veterans for participation in State approved marijuana programs’’.

“My proposed amendment, I believe, is common sense. It allows doctors in the VA—those that deal with veterans—to give advice to their veteran patients,” Mast said on the floor. “That seems simple enough, but under the status quo, VA doctors are limited in essential treatment options that they can offer to their patients and treatments that patients that are not veterans can readily assess in many states.”

“Beyond the veteran population, the nation is turning the page on how we think about cannabis. It’s become a key part of the medical system in more than 30 states. It offers law-abiding Americans a low-cost and safe option,” he said. “Do not keep those who’ve fought for our country from accessing what’s proven to be a critical tool for pain management. It is time for change. Veterans deserve to have access to every possible tool, and the best medical options available and the best possible medical advice by their doctors.”

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Service Members Are Waiting For Congress and Department of Defense to Acknowledge That the COVID-19 Shot Mandate Was Unlawful and Harmful

House Armed Service Committee (HASC) Republicans announced on X this morning that service members and military families will be prioritized in the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

For many, last year’s NDAA was an abject disappointment, failing to recognize Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s 2021 shot mandate was unlawful. It remains to be seen whether this year’s version will call a spade a spade or hide behind similar weak language.

One thing is certain: Thousands of service members, veterans, and their supporters will be watching, laser-focused on the statement made by HASC. Earlier this year, 231 active service members and veterans signed the Declaration of Military Accountability (DMA)—an open letter seeking accountability over the harm caused by the implementation and enforcement of the now-rescinded COVID-19 shot mandate. Nearly 34,000 others, including civilians, have pledged their support alongside the original signatories of the letter.

Brad Miller, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who previously served as a battalion commander in the 101st Airborne Division, is one of the original signatories of the DMA and a voice for accountability. In October 2021, after nearly 19 years of honorable service, he was unjustly relieved of command for refusing the jab.

For service members like Miller, Congress, and DOD must acknowledge the unlawfulness and harmful effects of the once-mandated COVID-19 injection.

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Congressional Lawmakers To Vote On GOP-Led Psychedelics Bill For Veterans This Week Despite VA Opposition

A congressional committee is set to vote this week on a GOP-led bill that would instruct the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to notify Congress if any psychedelics are added to its formulary of covered prescription drugs.

About a month after the House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee held an initial hearing on the legislation from Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), members will mark up the bill on Tuesday.

The panel had also discussed a measure from the subcommittee chair Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) during last month’s hearing, but that proposal isn’t on the Tuesday markup agenda—even though VA voiced support for it on the condition that certain amendments were made.

VA came out against the psychedelics bill that is getting a vote, arguing that it’s “unnecessary.”

The bill states that VA must report to Congress on the addition of any psychedelic medicines to its formulary within 180 days of their federal approval by Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The report would need to include “the determination of the Secretary whether to include such drug in the formulary of the Department,” as well as “the justification of the Secretary for such determination,” the bill text says.

Currently, there are no psychedelic drugs that are federally approved to prescribe as medicine. But that could soon change, as FDA recently agreed to review a new drug application for MDMA-assisted therapy on an expedited basis. The agency has also designated psilocybin, and more recently an LSD-like compound, as “breakthrough therapies.”

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US Navy Veteran Who Feds Say Rammed FBI Headquarters Had QAnon-Linked Online Presence

A former Navy submarine technician was arrested after law enforcement says he drove an SUV into the FBI headquarters near Atlanta on Monday afternoon. It is still unclear why the suspect, Ervin Lee Bolling, attempted to force entry into the headquarters, but research conducted by the nonpartisan public-interest nonprofit Advance Democracy and shared exclusively with WIRED has found that accounts believed to be associated with Bolling shared numerous conspiracy theories on social media platforms, including X and Facebook.

Just after noon on Monday, Bolling rammed his burnt-orange SUV with South Carolina license plates into the final barrier at FBI Atlanta’s headquarters, wrote Matthew Upshaw, an FBI agent assigned to the Atlanta office, in a sworn affidavit on Tuesday. Upshaw added that after Bolling crashed the SUV, he left the car and tried to follow an FBI employee into the secure parking lot. When agents instructed Bolling to sit on a curb, he refused and tried again to enter the premises. The affidavit also stated that Bolling resisted arrest when agents subsequently tried to detain him.

Bolling was charged on Tuesday with destruction of government property, according to court records reviewed by WIRED.

Advance Democracy researchers identified an account on X with the handle @alohatiger11, a reference to the Clemson University mascot which Bolling has expressed support for on his public Facebook page. The handle is similar to usernames on other platforms like Telegram and Cash App, and also bears similarities to a Facebook page with Bolling’s name. The profile picture used in the X account also resembles a picture of the same man shown in Bolling’s public Facebook profile. The X account is currently set to private, but dozens of its old posts are still publicly viewable through the Internet Archive.

In December 2020, the X account responded to a post about a federal government stimulus bill that stated, “Wonder what it will take for people to wake up.” The X account believed to be associated with Bolling responded, “I’m awake. Just looking for a good militia to join.”

Around the same time, social media accounts seemingly associated with Bolling repeatedly boosted QAnon content and interacted with QAnon promoters, including by posting a link to a now-deleted QAnon-associated YouTube channel alongside the comment: “Release the Kraken”—in direct reference to Sidney Powell’s failed legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

On what’s believed to be Bolling’s Facebook account, there were various posts related to anti-vaccine memes as well.

The accounts also posted in support of former president Donald Trump. In December 2020, “I love you” was posted in response to a post on X from Trump that falsely claimed the election had been rigged by Democrats.

Courtney Bolling, who is identified as the suspect’s wife on Facebook, did not respond to requests for comment via phone or messages sent to her social media profiles. No legal counsel is listed on record for Bolling.

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Another Government Bureaucracy That Can’t Do Their Job: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

The 150 million dollar Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) was created to replace the scandal plagued Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC).

More than 81,000 Americans remain missing from WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Gulf Wars/other conflicts.

Before quitting after less than a year on the job, the “new director” simply reassigned the previous JPAC Scientific Director to be in charge of “partnering with private groups”.  What this “partnering” turned out to be was the giving away of millions of taxpayer dollars in annual contracts to “non-profits to do DPAA’s primary job: recover remains of MIA’s.  With no apparent ethical oversight by DPAA, some of these same government contractors actively continue to solicit contributions claiming to be “non-profit” charities.  Huge multi-million dollar contracts are farmed out. This obvious unethical practice is just another example of the past arrogance and abuse by this same old group of poor leaders and managers who continue to remain in functional control of the “new” organization.

And, in “deja vu all over again” the Department of Defense appointed a former JPAC commander as the “new, new” director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.  This is the very same person who had steered the agency, known by its employees as “Dysfunction Junction”, into its final demise and lost his own job under a torrent of Congressional criticism.

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Fury as Boston plans to fill former veteran housing with migrants as city asks residents to take people in

Massachusetts residents are outraged at recently announced plans to turn a former Boston area veteran housing unit into a homeless shelter as the city is inundated with migrants.

Democrat Governor Maura Healey revealed the government will turn the former Chelsea Soldiers’ Home facility, which is vacant and scheduled for demolition, into a safety-net site in April.

It will be able to accommodate 100 families who are eligible for the state’s Emergency Assistance family shelter system, which has been operating at capacity for months. 

Residents of the Bay State, however, are furious that the former veteran housing facility is being turned into migrant shelter when on a single night in 2023 there were 545 veterans experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Local Dick McGrath said on Facebook: ‘Is it me, or is there something wrong with putting migrants in the Chelsea Soldiers Home instead of homeless veterans?’

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Veterans Affairs Kept COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate In Place Without Evidence

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reviewed no data when deciding in 2023 to keep its COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place.

VA Secretary Denis McDonough said on May 1, 2023, that the end of many other federal mandates “will not impact current policies at the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

He said the mandate was remaining for VA health care personnel “to ensure the safety of veterans and our colleagues.”

Mr. McDonough did not cite any studies or other data. A VA spokesperson declined to provide any data that was reviewed when deciding not to rescind the mandate. The Epoch Times submitted a Freedom of Information Act for “all documents outlining which data was relied upon when establishing the mandate when deciding to keep the mandate in place.”

The agency searched for such data and did not find any.

“The VA does not even attempt to justify its policies with science, because it can’t,” Leslie Manookian, president and founder of the Health Freedom Defense Fund, told The Epoch Times.

“The VA just trusts that the process and cost of challenging its unfounded policies is so onerous, most people are dissuaded from even trying,” she added.

The VA’s mandate remains in place to this day.

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Veteran Affairs Official Who Tried to Ban V-J Photo Has Controversial Past

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) official who attempted to ban the iconic photograph of a U.S. Navy sailor kissing a nurse on V-J Day from VA hospitals has a controversial history of hospital mismanagement, reports have revealed.

Assistant Under Secretary for Health Operations RimaAnn Nelson became the center of a national controversy for sending out a memo to VA health providers demanding the “removal and replacement of ‘V-J in Times Square’ photographs” on February 29.

The letter leaked to social media earlier this week, prompting backlash from thousands who don’t agree with Nelson’s assertion that the nearly 80-year-old image violates “the VA’s no-tolerance policy towards domestic violence, sexual harassment, and assault.”

Nelson’s censorship bid caused such a firestorm that VA Secretary Denis McDonough made a statement rescinding the rule change.

“Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities — and we will keep it in VA facilities,” he wrote on X Tuesday.

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Homelessness Rises Among US Veterans For 1st Time In 12 Years As Immigration Crisis Escalates

As national, state, and local governments continue to spend billions of dollars to house, feed, clothe, and provide medical care for millions of illegal immigrants, homelessness among U.S. veterans has risen dramatically for the first time in 12 years.

A recent report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) details a 7.4 percent increase in veteran homelessness between 2022 and 2023 and estimates that more than 35,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Over the course of a year, according to the report, almost twice as many veterans may experience homelessness. In total, HUD estimates that nearly 13 percent of the homeless adult population are veterans.

Kate Monroe, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and CEO of VetComm.us, calls this situation “the ultimate betrayal” by the U.S. government. She is also a California Republican congressional candidate.

“What they are trying to do is get as many people into the U.S. as they can,” she told The Epoch Times. “And what we’re saying to our homeless veterans is that we as a country don’t care. It’s no wonder why recruiting is down by 20 percent.”

According to a November 2023 report by the Homeland Security Republican Committee, the money spent on illegal migrants could cost Americans up to $451 billion by the end of this year. According to NYC.gov, the official website for New York City, the Big Apple alone doled out $1.45 billion in 2023 to provide food, shelter, and services to tens of thousands of immigrants. Several published reports indicate that Chicago paid $138 million during the past year to house, feed, and care for illegal immigrants.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform reports that the state of California, which had the highest number of immigrants in 2023—more than 160,000—spent some $22.8 billion for their care in 2023. California has also become the first state to offer health insurance for all illegal immigrants.

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Missouri Lawmakers Approve Bill To Legalize Psilocybin Therapy For Veterans

A Missouri House committee has unanimously approved a bill to legalize the medical use of psilocybin by military veterans and fund studies exploring the therapeutic potential of the psychedelic.

The House Veterans Committee passed the legislation from Rep. Aaron McMullen (R) on Tuesday, with amendments to align it with a Senate companion version that moved through a panel in that chamber last week.

The revised bill text of the House measure—which received an initial committee hearing last month—hasn’t been published yet, but the Senate version as recently amended would allow military veterans who are at least 21 and are diagnosed with a qualifying condition such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or substance use disorders to legally access laboratory-tested psilocybin.

In order to receive legal protections under the legislation, participants would need to be enrolled, or have sought enrollment, in a study involving the psychedelic.

There are also numerous requirements for patients to provide the state Department of Mental Health (DMH) with information about their diagnosis, the person who would be administering psilocybin and other details on the place and time of the treatment sessions.

Psilocybin could only be administered over a maximum of a one-year period, with the amount of the psychedelic used in that treatment capped at 150 milligrams, though qualifying patients could be also approved to continue for subsequent one-year periods.

Regulators, physicians and state agency officials would all be protected from legal consequences related to activity made lawful under the legislation.

Also, the legislation calls for DMH to provide funding to support research into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin.

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