New Hampshire House Passes Legislation Regulating Medical Marijuana
Urge Your Senator to Support HB 442!
Legislation that seeks to legalize the physician-supervised use of medical marijuana has been reintroduced in the New Hampshire Legislature.
House Bill 442 amends state law so that physician-supervised patients with an authorized “debilitating medical condition” can possess up to two ounces of usable marijuana for medical purposes. The measure also allows for the establishment of up to three “alternative treatment centers” to dispense medical cannabis to qualified patients. Home cultivation is not explicitly authorized under the bill. Similar legislation passed both the House and the Senate in 2009, but was vetoed by Governor Lynch.
While NORML finds aspects of HB 442 unduly restrictive, particularly its exclusion of home cultivation, its passage will ensure that authorized medical marijuana patients will no longer have to fear arrest or prosecution from state law enforcement.
It would also bring public policy in line with public sentiment. According to a recent Mason-Dixon research poll, 71 percent of New Hampshire voters support “changing the law in New Hampshire to allow seriously and terminally ill patients to use and grow medical marijuana for personal use if their doctors recommend it.”
On Wednesday, March 16th members of the House of Representatives voted in favor of HB 442 in a 221 to 96 vote. The measure is currently scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Committee of Health and Human Services on Thursday, May 5th. Full text of the measure is available here.
You can contact your state Senator about HB 442 by entering your zip code below. Further information about HB 442 is available from New Hampshire Compassion here.
