NH SHOULD LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

For people like Clayton Holton, Wednesday was a good day.

First, the state House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs
Committee voted 13-7 to support an amended version of HB 648 that
would permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes if prescribed
by a physician.

Later, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. announced that the
Department of Justice would refrain from targeting distributors of
medical marijuana in states where such use of the drug is legal,
thereby reversing a Bush administration practice.

As you may recall, Holton is the 23-year-old Somersworth resident who
was prominently featured on the final day of our three-day "Pot
Debate" series last month. He admits to using marijuana to keep up
his appetite and help ease the pain from a rare form of muscular
dystrophy that has kept him wheelchair-bound for most of his life.

Holton, who at 6 feet tall once weighed as little as 79 pounds, also
was among those individuals who testified in favor of the bill at a
committee hearing earlier this month.

While there is no guarantee that the bill will make it through the
Legislature this year, we hope the committee's positive
recommendation will prove to be the impetus to make New Hampshire the
14th state in the nation with medical marijuana laws on the books.

If so, it would join three other New England states - Maine, Rhode
Island and Vermont - that permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Sponsored by Lancaster Democrat Evalyn Merrick, who acknowledges
smoking marijuana to help ease the nausea of cancer treatments a few
years ago, the bill would legalize the use of marijuana for
individuals with certain "debilitating medical conditions," such as
AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and HIV.

The language also covers individuals suffering from conditions or
treatment that result in severe pain, nausea, seizures, muscle spasms
and other symptoms.

If approved, qualifying individuals would receive a registry
identification card from the Department of Health and Human Services
permitting them to possess up to six plants and 2 ounces of useable marijuana.

KEY POINTS BACKGROUND: A key House committee gave solid approval this
week to a bill that would legalize medical marijuana use in New Hampshire.

CONCLUSION: We urge members of our Greater Nashua delegation to back
the committee's recommendation and send the bill on to the Senate.
The movement by states to legalize the medical use of marijuana was
enhanced by a 1999 report issued by the Institute of Medicine that
found "a potential therapeutic value for cannabinoid drugs,
particularly for symptoms such as pain relief, control of nausea and
vomiting, and appetite stimulation."

The institute also concluded that there was "no convincing data" to
suggest that making the drug legal for this purpose would lead to a
rise in recreational marijuana use in the general population.

Besides the Institute of Medicine, a number of organizations have
taken positions in support of the medical use of marijuana, including
the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Public Health
Association and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Still, the New Hampshire bill faces many obstacles on its way to the
governor's desk, not the least of which is that the House has
rejected four similar bills in the past eight years.

And even if it were to make its way through both chambers, Gov. John
Lynch already has indicated he has concerns with the legislation.

For a state that prides itself on individual freedoms, we believe
this is a reasonable approach to help ease the suffering of
chronically ill patients who can't tolerate the side effects
associated with heavy-duty painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet.

As we said in this space back in 2005, it would be the "merciful thing to do."