The New Hampshire Legislature is once again trying to help patients get access to medical marijuana with HB 442, which is scheduled for a hearing before the Health, Human Services & Elderly Affairs Committee on March 10.

Marijuana has been proven to safely and effectively alleviate side affects of cancer-fighting medicines. It has been proven to be a safe and effective treatment in many ailments, including but definitely not limited to cancer, AIDS, fibromyalgia, glaucoma, anxiety, depression, alcohol addiction, irritable bowel syndrome, multiple sclerosis and muscle spasms.

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However one stands on the continued employment of the Keene elementary school teacher who was put on leave pending his prosecution and ultimate conviction for a marijuana-related misdemeanor, the school administration is handling the financial consequences of the matter in the right way.

Against its own preferences, the administration was ordered by the school board to keep 3rd grade teacher Darrel L. Beymer on the Symonds School payroll. After complaints by some parents, however, he will return to school in a different job until September, and a substitute will be paid to handle his teaching responsibilities for the remainder of the year.

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Last Thursday, President Barack Obama took questions submitted online in video and text format in the spirit of his State of the Union address two days earlier.

The President has conducted these in previous years, but this year's town hall was a bit different.

The most popular video this year was one from retired deputy sheriff MacKenzie Allen, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). He took his time to ask the president whether there should come a time for us to discuss the possibility of legalization, regulation and control of all drugs in hopes of an alternative to the current system of zero-tolerance prohibition. Where the President would've laughed this question off to the anxious-to-please audience in D.C. in years past, this year he chose to air and answer Mr. Allen's question.

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In a recent national survey, more teenagers reported having used marijuana in the 30 days prior to the poll than reported having smoked cigarettes.

It was the first time in 30 years that pot outpaced cigarettes.

In New Hampshire, recent rates of marijuana use among youth have been among the highest in the country, according to the 2009 New Hampshire Youth Risk Behavior Survey. In that survey, conducted every two years, high school students were asked whether they had smoked pot within the previous 30 days. Since 2003, about 25 to 30 percent have said they had.

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