Politics & Government

Medical Marijuana Compromise Struck

Gov. Maggie Hassan lauds House, Senate negotiators – says she looks forward to signing it into law.

House and Senate members have struck a compromise on legalizing medical marijuana, and Gov. Maggie Hassan says she looks forward to signing the bill into law.

The Senate passed the bill, but without House language that allowed for eligible people to grow up to three mature plants. Back in March, the House passed it on a commanding 286-64 vote. The governor opposed that so-called "home grow" option, saying she wanted tighter controls.

The committee of conference on the bill wrapped up their work Tuesday. The House and Senate convene June 26 to pass or reject all pending bills.

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Hassan, who has supported similar legislation in the past as a state senator, issued a statement immediately to say she looked forward to seeing the bill land on her desk.

"I have always maintained that allowing doctors to provide relief to patients through the use of appropriately regulated and dispensed medical marijuana is the compassionate and right policy for the State of New Hampshire. The compromise legislation as agreed to by the committee of conference addresses the concerns that I have heard and expressed throughout this session, and provides the level of regulation needed for the use of medical marijuana.

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I appreciate the hard work put into this measure by members of the Senate and House, especially lead negotiators Senator Nancy Stiles and Representative Jim MacKay, as well as by scores of advocates dedicated to the wellbeing of all Granite Staters, and I encourage the full legislature to pass this compromise so I can sign this legislation into law."

The bill (click here to read it as amended by Senate) has broad bipartisan sponsors, including Rep. Donna Schlachman (D-Exeter), Rep. Donald LeBrun (R-Nashua), Rep. Sylvia Gale (D-Nashua), Rep. Patricia Loveyjoy (D-Stratham), Sen. Martha Fuller Clark (D-Portsmouth), Rep. Wright (R-Tuftonboro) and Sen. John Reagan (R-Deerfield).

Eighteen states now have some form of legalized medical marijuana.

The Senate-amended bill proposes four alternative treatment centers which would be authorized to "acquire, possess, cultivate, manufacture, deliver, transfer, transport, sell, supply and dispense cannabis" – as well as related supplies – to qualifying patients and treatment centers.

A qualified patient would have to have at least a three-month medical relationship with a licensed provider, according to the bill.

Qualifying medical conditions would include: severely debilitating or terminal medical conditions, cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, hepatitis C currently receiving antiviral treatment, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Crohn’s disease, agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, chronic pancreatitis, spinal cord injury or disease, traumatic brain injury, or one or more injuries that significantly interferes with daily activities as documented by the patient’s provider.

Matt Simon, legislative analyst with the Marijuana Policy Project, had worked to revive the "home grow" option. He maintained it would give eligible patients a quicker access to the qualified medical source.

In a statement Tuesday, Simon said:

"These legislators did the best they could under difficult circumstances. It's hard for legislators to make good policy when they know that passing a truly helpful bill would result in a veto. Nobody wants to see patients left with nothing at the end of yet another long legislative process. It will be good for this compromised bill to pass into law so that DHHS to get started with rulemaking, but still, it's disappointing that patients are essentially being told by the governor to "hurry up and wait" another two years or more for safe, legal access. DHHS has said it will likely be a year before ID cards are available, and since the affirmative defense provisions have been gutted, patients will have no legal protection at all until they are issued an ID card. DHHS has 18 months before it must issue registration certificates for alternative treatment centers, so it will likely be two or more years before any New Hampshire patient has a legal way to obtain cannabis. It's good that the bill is going to pass, but unfortunately there will be no protection at all for patients who are suffering and need cannabis today."


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