The New Hampshire Senate last Thursday approved medical marijuana
legislation, but removed language allowing patients to grow their own
and protecting them from arrest before state ID cards are issued. The
House in March had approved the bill with those provisions, so now it
goes before a conference committee to try to reconcile differences.
The
Senate version also came with several other amendments, including
reducing the number of state-licensed dispensaries, requiring that
patients get written permission from a property owner before
being able to use medical marijuana on privately owned land, and
eliminating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from the list of
eligible conditions for marijuana use.
Sponsored by Rep. Donna Schlachman (D-Exeter), House Bill 573,
would allow state residents with serious illnesses, such as cancer,
multiple sclerosis, and HIV/AIDS, to obtain and use medical marijuana if
their doctors recommend it. Patients would be able to obtain their
medicine through one of four non-profit, state-licensed dispensaries.
The
Senate changes to the bill were made to assuage the concerns of Gov.
Maggie Hassan (D), who has said she supports medical marijuana
legislation, but who heeded the fears of law enforcement officials that
allowing patients to grow their own could result in diversion and make
law enforcement’s job more difficult.
According to advocates, the
Senate version of the bill not only regresses from the House version,
but it also contains errant language that would render the program
unworkable. The conference committee will seek to address those
problems.
"We applaud the senators for adopting this compassionate
and much-needed legislation despite its imperfections," said Matt
Simon, a New Hampshire-based legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project.
"In time, if a few simple problems are fixed, this bill will give
patients much-needed relief. The amendments made at the behest of our
governor will leave patients out in the cold for at least two years,
having to choose between needlessly suffering or turning to the
underground market to find their medicine. Patients will continue to
make the case to Gov. Hassan for why this bill needs to be substantially
improved, and she has said she will continue to listen."
"After
waiting years for legal protections and access to medical marijuana, New
Hampshire patients are grateful for the legislature’s action and
hopeful that this time the governor will make it a reality," said Mike
Liszewski, policy director with Americans for Safe Access
(ASA), the country’s leading medical marijuana advocacy group.
"Patients, however, still intend to urge members of the conference
committee to consider the importance of patient cultivation, especially
as the program gets up and running over the next 18 months."
Now, it’s up to the conference committee and the governor.
