GOP Senator Wants Feds To Study Hospital Costs Caused By Marijuana Use

Marijuana hospitalization costs: a new Washington obsession with a familiar aftertaste. In a city that can turn anything into a budget line and a battleground, a Republican senator from North Carolina has moved to make cannabis the latest item on the federal ledger. Sen. Ted Budd wants the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to tabulate what Medicaid spends on inpatient stays, outpatient visits, and emergency room runs “related to marijuana use.” It’s a tidy phrase with messy implications, the kind that keeps policy staffers caffeinated and lobbyists billable. But the core is simple: quantify the price tag of cannabis in hospitals, feed Congress a report within a year, and decide what to do next. It’s a play that mixes public health data with political theater, and the stakes for federal marijuana policy reform are right there on the table—cannabis taxation, Medicaid expenditures, and the Michigan-to-Missouri patchwork of state markets all humming in the background.

Here’s what the amendment actually does. It orders HHS to pull federal and state Medicaid expenditure data tied to hospital services “related to marijuana use,” from ER triage to discharge summaries, regardless of whether those services were true emergencies. The measure sets a one-year clock for a report to Congress, complete with recommendations for legislative or administrative action. The language leaves crucial definitions—like what counts as “related to marijuana use”—to the Secretary’s discretion. That’s where the rubber meets the road, because causality is fickle. Was the fall a cannabis-induced misstep or a slick patch of sidewalk? Was the panic attack marijuana-related or a brewing anxiety disorder unleashed by a rough week? The amendment lives here, in the gray areas of clinical coding and human behavior. For those keeping score, the text is public; the Senate’s own record houses it, and if you want to see the statutory scaffolding for yourself, the amendment is posted on Congress.gov (link: Congressional Record).

But policy never exists in a vacuum. This push to tally “marijuana hospitalization costs” arrives as the White House flirts with a generational pivot on federal scheduling. One day it’s rumor, the next it’s rollout, all of it swirling in the same Beltway humidity. Even the West Wing has teased the moment, and if you’re tracking the calendar and the tea leaves, you know the drumbeat: White House Confirms Trump Will ‘Address Marijuana Rescheduling’ Thursday, But Reported Details On Final Decision Are ‘Speculation’. Inside that vortex, Budd’s amendment is more than bookkeeping—it’s a narrative counterweight. If rescheduling moves forward, expect rival press releases in the inbox: one side touting banking access and medical research, the other waving ER cost tallies like a caution flag. And if the rumored executive action blossoms into policy—as some insiders suggest, with provisions that could touch financial services and even health coverage—well, that’s the sort of pivot that resets the map: Trump’s Marijuana Rescheduling Order Could Include Industry Banking And CBD Medicare Coverage Provisions, Sources Say.

Here’s the rub: data will influence policy, but the public will judge the vibe. Americans broadly favor legal access, even if the coalition frays at the partisan edges. The polling makes that tension plain—majorities want reform, yet some blocs, including many Trump voters, hesitate at the threshold. For a snapshot of that divide, see: Most Americans Back Legalizing Marijuana, But Trump Voters Not On Board, Conservative Group’s Poll Shows Amid Rescheduling Rumors. Budd’s amendment leans into those reservations. If the eventual report finds a meaningful spike in Medicaid outlays tied to cannabis, expect a push for stricter guardrails. If it shows noise more than signal, expect headlines about overblown fears. Meanwhile, the policy front keeps widening beyond hospital doors. Housing rules, for example, are inching toward reality-based reforms that stop punishing people for a plant, as proposals circulate to protect tenants who use cannabis from eviction—another sign that the center of gravity is drifting toward pragmatism: New Congressional Bill Would Let People Use Marijuana In Public Housing Without Being Evicted.

So where does this go? The amendment is currently a hitchhiker on a broader Fiscal Year 2026 spending bill sitting in the Senate queue. It may never see a vote, or it might ride the appropriations wave to the president’s desk—these things often turn on late-night negotiations and a handful of staffers with red pens and cold coffee. If it lands, HHS will have a year to produce a report that could shape how regulators frame cannabis risk, how insurers calibrate coverage, and how state programs defend their turf. If it stalls, count on a rerun—ideas like this rarely die, they just change vehicles. Either way, the cannabis industry, hospital systems, Medicaid directors, and patients living at the intersection of public health and policy should brace for a season where numbers become narrative. And as the White House signals its next move on rescheduling—see the cautious drumroll here: White House Confirms Trump Will ‘Address Marijuana Rescheduling’ Thursday, But Reported Details On Final Decision Are ‘Speculation’—remember that data, like politics, is a dish best served with context; if you’re curious how compliant, high-quality THCA flower fits into that evolving landscape, take a look at our shop.