THREAD: Since its Veterans Day, let's talk about #cannabis veterans legislation.

There are a lot of bills that would expand research into things like PTSD and chronic pain... and they have bipartisan support in both chambers.

But neither the House or Senate have voted on it.

These bills have a lot of support.

House bills:
@RepLouCorrea's bill has 105 cosponsors. @RepMattGaetz's has 12.
@gregsteube's has 19.
@repblumenauer's has 20.

Senate:
@DanSullivan_AK and @SenatorTester's has 9.

These Vets #cannabis bills have a lot of cosponsors, but they don't have a lot of $$. Industry and banking groups spend *millions* lobbying for the #SAFEBanking Act in 2019, but veterans groups barely spent six figures to lobby -many- issues incl. this.

https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2019/11/popular-veterans-marijuana-research-legislation-stuck-in-neutral-1821789

Specifics: the American Bankers Association spent as much as $3mil each quarter in 2019 lobbying for about a dozen bills, including #cannabis banking.

The Iraq + Afghanistan #Veterans of America spent $40-60k each quarter for about as many issues, including marijuana research.

It also fell low on priority lists. ABA pushed hard for weed banking until the pandemic began. But IAVA was one of few vets orgs to even mention weed during a committee hearing in early 2020. The big vets groups didn't push for research as strongly as $$ groups push for banking.

There are many reasons a bill does or doesn't pass, but lobbying funds, priorities and resources are a big part of that equation.

...And that's my short primer on #veterans #cannabis legislation on Capitol Hill.

/FIN
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2019/11/popular-veterans-marijuana-research-legislation-stuck-in-neutral-1821789