At issue for Governor Hassan was a provision in the House version of the bill that would allow qualifying patients to grow their own marijuan. Hassan also didn’t like that the House wanted to permit doctors to prescribe cannabis to treat PTSD.
The N.H. Senate had removed both provisions from the its version bill at Hassan’s behest, and House negotiators say under the circumstances going along made sense. Concord Democrat Jim McKay is Chairman of the House Health and Human Services Committee.
Today on The Exchange, it's our Friday New Hampshire News Roundup. We're looking at some of the top stories of the week, from the one public hearing held on the state Senate's budget, to the House's hard look at the Senate casino bill, and the removal of "grow your own" policy from the medical marijuana bill.
Guests:
Kevin Landrigan - Longtime political reporter for the Telegraph of Nashua.
Go to any medical marijuana hearing and you will hear people suffering from severe illness or injury extolling the therapeutic benefits of marijuana. But in NH you have never heard things like this. Elizabeth Woodcock is with the NH Department of Justice:
The NH attorney general’s office is willing to work with the committee and with the medical community to see if we can resolve the concerns that we have about the bill, and that’s the only thing I came to say.
A bill to legalize medical marijuana has cleared a committee of the New Hampshire House on a 14-1 vote. And the final version of the bill was rewritten with an eye towards placating the state’s Medical Society.
Marijuana is now legal in Washington and Colorado and medical marijuana is legal or pending approval in dozens of states across the country, including New Hampshire which is voting on a bill tomorrow. It raises the question: how high is too high to drive under the influence of pot? That’s something to consider here in New Hampshire, where a UNH/ WMUR poll showed 79% approval for legalizing medical marijuana. Josh Harkinson covers a wide range of topics for Mother Jones, and recently wrote about the as-yet-undefined meaning of driving under the influence.
A New Hampshire House Committee votes tomorrow morning on a bill allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. If the bill becomes law, it would make New Hampshire the last New England state to allow medical marijuana. Supporters say that, for some patients, it's the only hope and that New Hampshire needs to catch up with the rest of the region. But concerns of medical marijuana remain, like how to ensure it's only used by truly needy patients and fears that this is just the first step to legalizing pot.
