Medical Marijuana

At the request of the Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) the Senate made several changes to house bill to make it more conservative. The Senate removed a provision that would allow qualified patients to grow their own marijuana and dropped the number of dispensaries allowed to only four. The Senate also amended the bill to restrict the number of conditions that medical marijuana could be legally used to treat. The bill would create a very tightly regulated medical marijuana system.

Since the two chambers approved different versions of the bill they will either go conference to reach an agreement on a final compromise or the House can simply adopt the Senate version.

The legislature will soon send some version of the bill to the governor’s desk that she will find acceptable and sign into law. Over the past several years the legislature has approved similar medical marijuana bills only to have them vetoed by the former governor who was recently replaced in the last election.

Photo by Earthworm under Creative Commons license

New Hampshire
PPP (1/7-8)
Two states — Colorado and Washington — recently changed their laws to allow marijuana to be regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol, for legal use by adults age 21 and older. Would you support or oppose changing New Hampshire law to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, where stores would be licensed to sell marijuana to adults 21 and older?
Support ………………. 53%
Oppose ………………. 37%
Not sure …………….. 10%

It should be pointed out that PPP’s final polling of Colorado and Washington State last year found their marijuana legalization initiatives at right around 53 percent support and both went on to easy wins. There is good reason to believe if New Hampshire actually allowed citizens initiatives the voters of the state would easily approve one legalizing marijuana. Unfortunately, New Hampshire is part of the roughly half the country that doesn’t allow ballot initiatives, so any reform will need to move through the state legislature.

It will probably be several more years before the legislature is ready to embrace full legalization, but there is a very good chance that state may at least move forward with approving medical marijuana in the coming months. The state almost approved medical marijuana last year, but a bipartisan bill was vetoed by then Gov. John Lynch (D). Lynch has now been replaced by Gov. Maggie Hassan (D), who has been a supporter of medical marijuana.

The same poll found that voters overwhelmingly back medical marijuana with 68 percent in support compared to just 26 percent opposed. Allowing seriously ill people to use marijuana based on a doctor’s recommendation has majority support across all age groups and party identifications. Given how completely uncontroversial medical marijuana is with the electorate, there is basically no excuse for the legislature not to move forward with modest reform this year.

Will they override that smile on his face?

In a disappointing but expected move yesterday, New Hampshire governor John Lynch vetoed a bill that would have legalized medical marijuana in the state. Lynch had vetoed a similar medical marijuana bill back in 2009.

This new bill, SB 409, would have allowed people with serious illness to get a doctor’s recommendation to use medical marijuana so they can then register with the state. From Governor Lynch’s office explaining why he issued his veto:

SB 409 authorizes a patient to cultivate and transport up to 6 ounces of marijuana at any given time, and to possess for their use up to 2 ounces of marijuana at any point in time. While the bill requires the patient to obtain a written certification from a physician attesting to their qualifying medical condition before the patient is eligible to obtain a registry card authorizing medicinal marijuana use, the bill does not contemplate any medical guidance by the certifying physician concerning the amount or frequency of marijuana use. This is a significant difference from the prescription and use of any other controlled drug, where the patient is given specific medical guidance on how much of a drug to take and how often to take it.

Given that there are many types of marijuana with different degrees of potency, I am concerned that the absence of restrictions on the amount and frequency of use of marijuana combined with the amounts allowed under the bill for possession could pose significant health dangers.

There is still chance that the bill could become law this year despite the veto. The state legislature can override the veto with a 2/3rd vote in both chambers. While in the House of Representatives the law should easily clear that threshold, it should face a more difficult time in the state Senate.

Fortunately, Gov Lynch is not seeking another term this year and there is a strong chance that the next governor will be more supportive of medical marijuana. The two top Democrats in the primary, Jackie Cilley and Maggie Hassan, both voted for the medical marijuana bill in 2009, which was eventually vetoed by Lynch.