Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jun 2013
Source: Keene Sentinel (NH)
Copyright: 2013 Keene Publishing Corporation.
Contact:  http://sentinelsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/223
Author: Kyle Jarvis

NEW HAMPSHIRE LEGISLATURE PASSES MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL; OVERWHELMING 
SUPPORT IN REGION

The N.H. Legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation Wednesday 
legalizing medical marijuana. But the vote did not fall entirely 
along party lines among Monadnock Region lawmakers.

House Bill 573 sailed through the N.H. House, 284-66. The Senate also 
passed the bill on a voice vote.

In the region, it passed by a 27-3 vote in the House.

State Rep. William Butynski, D-Hinsdale, who voted against the bill 
in March, switched his vote on Wednesday.

"The Senate changed the bill to incorporate changes recommended by 
the governor," he said. "And so, I'm not sure I felt good, but I felt 
OK voting for it."

Butynski said his main concern about passing such a bill is "the 
message it sends to young people. I don't want them to think, 'Well, 
it's OK to use for medical (purposes) so it's OK for me to use it,' 
because that's really not the case."

The bill makes it legal for people with serious health conditions to 
possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana for therapeutic use with a 
doctor's prescription. Medical conditions or diseases that qualify 
people for medical marijuana include cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, 
hepatitis C, ALS, muscular dystrophy, Crohn's disease, Alzheimer's 
disease and multiple sclerosis.

Post-traumatic stress disorder was removed from the list during 
legislative negotiations over the final version of the bill, as was a 
provision that would have allowed patients or their caregivers to 
grow their own marijuana.

Patients will be allowed to buy marijuana at four dispensaries across 
the state whose locations are yet to be determined. Those sites are 
expected to open in 2015.

The House passed an earlier version of the bill in March, but Gov. 
Maggie Hassan expressed concerns about the home-growing provision and 
other aspects. After that provision was dropped in the Senate, she 
promised to sign the bill into law.

Before entering politics, Butynski, who has a Ph.D. in psychology, 
worked for 35 years in alcohol and drug treatment and prevention, he said.

"Marijuana, in fact, can be a dangerous drug, particularly for young 
people," he said. "People can get addicted to marijuana. A number of 
people will say, 'Oh that can't happen,' and those were people who 
maybe tried it 10 or 20 years ago, when it wasn't the same potency."

Still, Butynski was swayed by the bill's restrictiveness.

"It may even be the bill can be improved over time," he said. "I 
certainly recognize that some people believe very wholeheartedly that 
they are helped by using cannabis in a therapeutic way."

State Rep. Henry A.L. Parkhurst, D-Winchester, was the only Democrat 
in the region to vote against the bill, as he did in March.

"There is still a federal ban on marijuana, and that's my biggest 
sticking point," he said. "I took an oath to uphold the United States 
Constitution. It's a sticky wicket here. There are those on both 
sides that are very passionate with it.

"If a doctor prescribes it, then I think it should be legal, and as 
soon as the federal government says OK, you'll have my vote," he 
said. "I hate to hear about people suffering, and that something that 
can help them is illegal and criminal, but let's do it legally," at 
the federal level, he said.

State Rep. Charles F. Weed, D-Keene, however, believes the bill 
doesn't go far enough.

"I think that our craze against marijuana is a kind of prohibition, 
so I've been in favor of ending that policy against many drugs for a 
long time," he said. "I'm disappointed that we did not provide ways 
of taking care of those people who have the need in the next few 
years until we have dispensaries (in 2015), so they could use 
prescriptions to go to Maine or Vermont," states that already passed 
medical marijuana laws.

State Sen. Bob Odell, R-Lempster, whose district includes the local 
towns of Acworth, Antrim, Bennington, Langdon, Marlow and Stoddard, 
did not support the bill.

"I've been very straightforward from day one," he said Wednesday 
night. "I think it's wrong to set up a separate system for just marijuana.

"It baffles me why ... we can't come to the table and do something 
responsible," he said. "Whatever the benefits are, have it come 
through the regular drug distribution system, including your local 
pharmacy, and have oversight and regulation and FDA approval."

While Odell said he's supportive of the concept of medical marijuana, 
"particularly for people in late stages of life ... I can't imagine 
why we're putting in 50 little drug businesses across the country."

State Rep. Steven Smith, R-Charlestown, said it was easy for him to say "yea."

"When you look at somebody that's suffering and it isn't ever going 
to get better, it's hard to deny them that comfort," he said Wednesday night.

Smith said that while some lawmakers had concerns that "we'll get a 
lot of 20-year-olds who will go to the doctor and say, 'Dude, my back 
hurts,' " he's much more concerned about the problems presented by 
legal prescription medication such as Oxycontin.

"Others felt this would be a gateway (to legalization), but you have 
to vote on the bill that's in front of you," he said. "If we find the 
restrictions in this bill aren't tight enough, we can work on it 
again next session."

Susan M. MacNeil, executive director for AIDS Services for the 
Monadnock Region, said she was thrilled to hear the news of the 
bill's passing because it will help her agency's clients.

"The most important consideration for anyone who is HIV-positive is 
being able to tolerate their medication regimen, and if our clients 
can be helped in that regard, then that is something we certainly 
support," she said.

Typical side effects for HIV and AIDS medications include extreme 
nausea, vomiting and inability to eat, she said.

"That's the key with HIV meds; you don't start and stop, you have to 
keep taking it," she said. "This is just one more tool in our toolbox 
to help keep people with HIV as healthy as possible ... so to know 
the Legislature has done the right thing, the compassionate thing, 
that's all good."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom