MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATES BEGIN TV CAMPAIGN FOR SUPPORT

CONCORD - The campaign to let the chronically and terminally ill
legally use marijuana hit the airwaves today.

A 30-second commercial promoting the legislation and urging Gov. John
Lynch to support it began on WMUR-TV and on Comcast cable stations.

The ad features Sandy Drew, 55, of Allenstown, a retired nurse
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Drew, 55, was a registered nurse at Concord Hospital until her
retirement in 2001.

"We think this is the right time to be delivering this message
directly to Governor Lynch that this would offer relief of suffering
to many people in this state," said Matt Simon, executive director of
the NH Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy.

"The governor needs to hear stories like Sandy's and many others.
They sell the need for this law a lot better than I ever could."

The ad will be broadcast for at least the next week, Simon said.

Scott Turner, 46, of Nashua came to the State House Thursday to lend
his support.

A retailed, retail manager, Turner said he suffers from degenerative
disc and joint disease and started taking marijuana more than twenty years ago.

The pain got more constant and chronic since his retirement from work
six years ago.

Turner said he smokes marijuana two or three times a day when he's
able to get and afford it.

Using marijuana lets him significantly cut back on the prescription
pain medication he's taken for years.

"It's been the only way I've been able to get out of the house and
occasionally do things," Turner said during an interview.

"The morphine and the percoset don't provide enough relief."

Tony Woody of Exeter joined the medical marijuana campaign in recent days.

A retired US Navy flight engineer, Woody said he has degenerative
disc disease throughout his spine after riding in devices that are
designed to simulate the severe, gravitational forces fighter pilots
face while in combat or after having to eject form an aircraft.

Woody said he's tried marijuana only once for pain many years ago and
found it helped reduce searing pain around his muscles.

"This causes a different type of pain that literally feels my entire
body is being crushed on the inside," said Woody who gets deep tissue
message, chiropractic and acupuncture treatments every week.

Woody won't use it at all for fear of risking his military pension
and veteran's disability income.

"If this simple plant can improve my quality of life, how can it be a
crime for a person like me to use it?" Woody asked rhetorically.

The State Senate approved the bill Wednesday. The House of
Representatives already has endorsed its own version.

Lynch has said he had concerns about the logistics of making a drug
illegal under federal law accessible to patients and their designated
caregivers.

Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, nine of the state's 10 county
attorneys and the state lobby of local police chiefs all vigorously oppose it.

At no point has Lynch said whether he'd veto such a bill.

Prime authors of the bill said they would encourage the House to
embrace the Senate's plan so the bill can eventually be sent on to
Lynch's desk.

There are 13 states currently where it's legal for patients to get
marijuana for medical use including Maine and Vermont.