LYNCH VETOES MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

Concord - Gov. John Lynch on Friday snuffed out legislation that would
have legalized marijuana use for people suffering from cancer, AIDS,
glaucoma and other severe illnesses.

Lynch's veto came despite efforts by lawmakers who had rewritten the
bill to overcome objections voiced by the Democratic governor.

Severely ill patients will now either risk arrest to ease their
suffering, or obey the law and suffer, said Matt Simon, director of
New Hampshire Common Sense.

"These are real people who are suffering," he said.

Simon and the bill's sponsor, Rep. Evalyn Merrick, D-Lancaster, said
they will attempt to implement the law through an override.

In his veto message, Lynch said the bill has serious flaws. He worried
about unauthorized distribution, noting that volunteer growers and
distributors would have access to the drug.

He also took issue with the amount of drug that would be allowed to be
dispensed: 2 ounces over 10 days.

Lynch said the state must be sure it is implementing the right
policy.

"We cannot set a lower bar for medical marijuana than we do for other
controlled substances, and we cannot implement a law that still has
serious flaws," he said. He said he has tremendous compassion for
patients, and he remains open to "tightly controlled usage of
marijuana for appropriate medical purposes."

The bill passed the House, 232-108, last month and the Senate, 14-10.
Depending on attendance, the House may have the two-thirds support to
override, but supporters need two more votes in the Senate.

"We're going to take a fresh approach, and hopefully their
constituents can convince a few senators and we will pull this off,"
Simon said. He acknowledged the odds are against an override.

The bill would have established three nonprofit "compassion centers"
to dispense marijuana to severely ill patients whose doctors approve.
The state would license the centers and issue identification cards to
staff, approved patients and their caregivers.

The New Hampshire bill called for more regulation than any other
medical marijuana law, said Rep. Cindy Rosenwald, chairwoman of the
House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee.

"This one was so narrow, so tight, so restrictive that I thought,
'Let's leave this up to doctors and patients,'" said Rosenwald, a
Nashua Democrat. "We had an opportunity to protect some of our sickest
patients."

Thirteen states already allow the use of marijuana for medical
reasons.

The bill would have made New Hampshire the third state to adopt a
"pharmacy model" by licensing compassion centers. Rhode Island and New
Mexico have enacted similar models.

Some other states allow individuals to possess and grow the drugs.
Patients can also buy marijuana at stores in California.

Also, patients would have had to satisfy two criteria before
qualifying for legal use of marijuana:

. First, they would have had to have a qualifying chronic or terminal
illness. Diseases that would meet the requirement would include
cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, hepatitis C while receiving antiviral
treatment, and Crohn's disease.

. Second, they would have been eligible only if they had not responded
to previously prescribed medication for three months to treat severe
nausea, vomiting, seizures or muscle spasms.

The bill is silent on the cost to patients, but supporters hoped
contributions would have allowed them to dispense the drug with little
or no cost to patients. According to Lynch, the state's administrative
costs would have been so high that only the wealthiest patients would
be able to afford to pay the resulting fees