HOUSE OKAYS MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

234-138 Vote Sends Legislation To Senate

New Hampshire residents suffering from severe pain or debilitating
diseases such as cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis
could use small quantities of marijuana for relief under legislation
adopted yesterday by the House.

The vote in favor of legalizing marijuana for medicinal use, 234-138,
would allow ill patients to grow their own marijuana plants or
purchase small amounts of the drug. The bill now heads to the Senate.
A spokesman for Gov. John Lynch yesterday said Lynch has "serious
concerns" about the bill, including the fact that it would put New
Hampshire law at odds with federal law.

Yesterday's House vote came a week after U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder said his office would only target distributors of medicinal
marijuana when the practice violated both federal and state law. Rep.
Evalyn Merrick, a Democrat from Lancaster who sponsored the bill,
said the timing of Holder's announcement was "fortuitous" and may
have helped galvanize support for medicinal marijuana in the House.

The bill passed yesterday would require a doctor to certify that a
patient's condition was severe enough to require marijuana to reduce
pain and nausea. The bill's supporters said it was worded carefully
enough to ensure that only the sickest patients would qualify for the
drug, thereby reducing the potential for abuse. The bill limits each
patient to six marijuana plants or 2 ounces of the drug and restricts
its use to patients who have suffered debilitating pain for at least
three months.

But several opponents of the proposal questioned how patients would
get their hands on the drug, since the bill does nothing to legalize
the sale of marijuana. Others expressed broader concerns that
allowing one use of marijuana would lead to wider abuses.

"There exists no standard of care for pot," said Rep. John Cebrowski,
a Bedford Republican. "Each pot smoker is his or her own doctor.
Medical use is a Trojan horse for the legalization of marijuana."

Supporters said patients could buy marijuana plants from a person in
another state where medicinal marijuana is legal or grow their own
supply at home. Thirteen other states, including Maine and Vermont,
have legalized marijuana for medicinal uses.

Rep. Roger Wells, a Republican from Hampstead, urged lawmakers to
consider the suffering they could help alleviate by supporting
medicinal marijuana.

"The only thing standing in the way of compassion for patients
suffering from these kinds of diseases is this Legislature. And this
bill will change that," Wells said.

The debate preceding yesterday's vote was long and impassioned, but
it did not prevent several lawmakers from cracking jokes. At one
point, as the chatter of a handful of lawmakers threatened to drown
out the proceedings, Rep. Linda Foster, who was presiding over the
debate, requested quiet.

"There's just a constant buzz in here that's just getting louder and
louder," she said to laughter.