Marijuana Effort Gets High Approval

MedicalNeed

New Member
Patients seeking marijua-
na to treat debilitating med-
ical conditions came a step 
closer to relief yesterday, 
when a House committee 
recommended legalizing 
medical marijuana.

The House Health, 
Human Services and Elder-
ly Affairs Committee voted 
14-3 to send the bill to the 
full House with a recom-
mendation that it pass.

"I'm for the use of med-
ical marijuana for compas-
sionate reasons, but I also 
support it for simply fiscal 
reasons," said committee 
Chairman John Reagan, a 
Deerfield Republican, who 
said marijuana could 
replace expensive prescrip-
tion drugs.

Both the House and Sen-
ate passed bills legalizing 
marijuana in 2009 but could 
not override a veto by 
Democratic Gov. John 
Lynch. This year, Lynch said 
he still has concerns about 
the bill, even if it gets past a 
skeptical Senate. The attor-
ney general's office opposes 
the bill. The House, howev-
er, appears to be in strong 
support.

Committee member Rep. 
Robert Fredette, a Hillsboro 
Republican, said his daugh-
ter has muscular dystrophy 
and spinal muscular atro-
phy, and no drug can help 
her eat. Because she has no 
appetite, Fredette said, "she 
looks worse than most chil-
dren in Africa who have not 
eaten in many moons."

Fredette said he went 
into the public hearing on 
medical marijuana planning 
to oppose it, because mari-
juana is illegal under federal 
law. But he heard testimony 
from a woman with an ill-
ness similar to his daugh-
ter's, who testified that mar-
ijuana helped her appetite.

"Coming out of the hear-
ing, I'm a definite yes," Fre-
dette said. "If it helps my 
daughter, I'm all for it."

Rep. James MacKay, a 
Concord Democrat, said he 
opposed the bill in the past 
but supports it this time. 
MacKay said previous ver-
sions of the bill made mari-
juana more accessible than 
this version, which would 
establish regulated "alterna-
tive treatment centers" to 
distribute it. He said the bill's 
sponsor, Rep. Evalyn Mer-
rick, a Lancaster Democrat, 
convinced him of the thera-
peutic value of marijuana.

The Department of Health 
and Human Services, which 
is neutral on the bill, esti-
mates that it would cost 
about $200,000 in start-up 
costs, though that money 
would be made back from 
patients.

Committee members who 
voted against the bill said 
they did so solely because 
marijuana is illegal under 
federal law.

"Until such time as mari-
juana is taken off the federal 
registry as a banned sub-
stance, in good conscience I 
can't vote for the bill," said 
Vice Chairman Rep. Frank 
Kotowski, a Hooksett Repub-
lican.


NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: concordmonitor.com
Author: Shira Schoenberg
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: 1997-2011 Concord Monitor and New Hampshire Patriot
Website: Marijuana effort gets high approval
 
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