LYNCH AT CENTER OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA FIGHT

CONCORD - With the battle over a state budget now over, activists are
fighting over whether Gov. John Lynch should sign a medical marijuana
bill into law.

Conservatives are urging Lynch to veto HB 648, while those who favor
more liberal marijuana policies are urging him to pass it.

The bill calls for three-nonprofit "compassion centers" that would be
licensed to grow and distribute marijuana to critically and
terminally ill patients, who must be certified by the state and their
own doctor.

Lynch said yesterday he is reviewing a copy of the 20-page bill that
Senate and House members negotiated over the past month, but said he
has reached no decision.

The Secretary of State's office has still not received the finished
bill from legislative lawyers. The bill needs the signatures of
Speaker of the House Terie Norelli and Senate President Sylvia Larsen
before it goes to Lynch. If he signs the bill, New Hampshire would
join 13 other states that enacted laws allowing medicinal use of marijuana.

The final version of the bill passed by more than a two-thirds margin
in the House, 232-108, and by a party-line, 14-10 vote in the Senate.

Republicans who voted against the bill argued that it will put police
in a tough spot. They are sworn to uphold all state and federal laws,
yet state marijuana law will require them to allow certified patients
to violate federal law.

The conservative Cornerstone Policy Research group is calling on
Lynch to veto the bill on fiscal concerns, saying it will cost the
state too much money at a time when budget dollars are already
stretched too thinly.

A legislative fiscal note said the bill will cost $250,000. However,
the bill states that the program must be self-funded, using license
and permit fees to cover all its costs.

Matt Simon of the N.H. Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy
said Cornerstone did not follow the bill through the process, and
missed important changes that eliminated the bill's impact on the budget.

He said the bill was carefully crafted to meet all Lynch's concerns,
especially his demand that dispensation and distribution of marijuana
be a secure process.

"We feel we've done a good job and we hope Gov. Lynch will do the
right thing," Simon said.

NH Common Sense has launched a TV ad campaign, its second of the
year, calling on Lynch to sign the bill. It features cancer survivor
Dennis Acton of Fremont, recounting how the use of marijuana
alleviated nausea he suffered during chemotherapy.

Acton says in the 30-second ad, "I hope Gov. Lynch will have the
courage to step forward and sign this bill into law."