cannabisnews.com: NH House Hears from Medical Marijuana Supporters





NH House Hears from Medical Marijuana Supporters
Posted by CN Staff on March 09, 2009 at 14:39:36 PT
By The Associated Press
Source: Associated Press
Concord, N.H. -- Proponents of medical marijuana urged New Hampshire lawmakers today to pass a bill that would allow patients with painful ailments to possses a small amount of the drug.Dozens of supporters packed a hearing on the bill before the House health and human services committee. Lead sponsor Evalyn Merrick, who has cancer and used marijuana to quell queasiness from chemotherapy in 2002, says her bill would help many patients who are suffering in pain.
"They are not drug addicts," said Merrick, a Lancaster Democrat who has multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. "They are law-abiding citizens who only wish to find healing."Her bill would allow some patients to posses up to 2 ounces of marijuana to alleviate pain from diseases like cancer and multiple sclerosis.Patients would also be able to grow up to six cannabis plants at home and keep six seeds for later use. Only patients in constant pain for at least three months would qualify for the drug.Somersworth resident Clayton Holton, 23, told the committee he has a rare form of muscular dystrophy, and he moved to California for about 10 months to take advantage of that state’s medical marijuana law. He said he uses marijuana to maintain his appetite. His weight dropped to 69 pounds at one point during his illness."Doctors were threatening me with feeding tubes," he said, adding that if Merrick’s bill failed he may have to move with his parents to Rhode Island or Maine, two states that allow medical marijuana use.Sandra Drew,a 56-year-old retired nurse with multiple sclerosis, addressed concerns that the bill would send the wrong message to young people. Drew, of Allenstown, said she never smokes marijuana around her children or grandchildren. But she uses the drug to ease the pain from muscle spasms.Merrick acknowledges that patients would have no legal way to buy marijuana under terms of the bill. She says they would have to get the drug from other patients, family members or dealers until the state opted to regulate distribution.Assistant Attorney General Karin Eckel spoke against the bill, telling the committee it would violate federal law.Thirteen states now allow medical marijuana use. Federal drug agents have raided dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries, mainly in California. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a news conference last month that the Obama administration would end such raids.Source: Associated Press (Wire)Published:   Monday, March 9, 2009Copyright: 2009 The Associated PressCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by OverwhelmSam on March 10, 2009 at 06:31:49 PT
Thumbs Down
I read an article this morning that stated the House of Representatives voted this bill down.
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Comment #4 posted by BGreen on March 10, 2009 at 02:13:11 PT
Oops, oops, oops
I made false accusations about Sandra Drew.Sandra Drew "addressed concerns that the bill would send the wrong message to young people" but that doesn't mean she agrees with that assumption. I think she was refuting the idea that it sends a bad message. There's nothing wrong with her not sparking up a phatty in front of her kids and grand kids.My apologies to Sandra Drew but not to all of the drug warriors/prohibitionists who are guilty.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #3 posted by BGreen on March 10, 2009 at 02:00:07 PT
Here's the REAL wrong message to young people
Here are the REAL gateway drugs, right from the forked tongue of the DEA.Kids take prescription pain pills from medicine cabinet at home, kids gets hooked on pills and are forced to purchase pills on the street. Kids can no longer afford $80 for a single Oxycontin tablet so they purchase heroin. Heroin is much cheaper than Oxycontin (and other opiates and synthetic opiates) and, according to users, is the EXACT SAME HIGH as it's prescription counterparts.We now have a PROVEN gateway to heroin and, ****SURPRISE****, cannabis isn't even involved.Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone, Morphine ... all of these are direct gateways for kids to begin using heroin.Now, most of these pills are reaching the street through the normal route from manufacturers to wholesalers to Pharmacies and then on to street dealers.What does that mean?The manufacturers must ramp up production in order to keep up with the legal AND illegal demand. These pills aren't being stolen from the manufacturers or wholesalers and only a small amount from retail outlets, so that means all of these businesses are making massive amounts of money by providing drugs that everybody knows and admits are ending up on the streets and into the hands of our kids.Where are the voices of outrage about all of these businesses making profits off the lives of young addicts? Why are dangerous opiates/synthetic opiates still prescribed when there is a direct, DEA admitted link between these pills and heroin?Whenever somebody like Sandra Drew can provide a plausible explanation for holding cannabis to a higher standard than any other medical device or medicine then I'll let them have their "bad message to kids" nonsense. Until then (and I'm NOT holding my breath,) I'll point out their hypocrisy with every word from each of the two faces the prohibitionists possess.I'll tell you what the worst, most incredibly wrong message we have to deliver to the young people and why it's easy to understand why the prohibitionists are fighting so hard to keep this message under wraps and it's this:Your government, your preachers, your teachers, your DARE officers and even your parents have been telling you lies. They believed they were protecting you by making up stories about the "dangers" of cannabis because they thought they could control you by scaring you, but in reality they lied and those lies have destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of good people.That's the message that needs to be delivered to the young people and that is what really scares the hell out of the drug warriors/prohibitionists because it's not the message that's wrong, it's the drug warriors/prohibitionists that have been wrong all along.That's the message we have to deliver.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #2 posted by EAH on March 10, 2009 at 00:25:15 PT:
Live Free or Die?
[QUOTE]Assistant Attorney General Karin Eckel spoke against the bill, telling the committee it would violate federal law.{QUOTE]This is the state whose car license plates proudly and defiantly claim "Live Free or Die". The people we put in positions of leadership so often disappoint. Had she been around 240 years ago, I'm sure she'd be saying that fighting for independence "violates" British law. Pathetic
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Comment #1 posted by itsonlyaplant on March 09, 2009 at 17:36:03 PT
AARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
Sandra Drew,a 56-year-old retired nurse with multiple sclerosis, addressed concerns that the bill would send the wrong message to young people. Drew, of Allenstown, said she never smokes marijuana around her children or grandchildren. But she uses the drug to ease the pain from muscle spasms.GOD!!! WTF!? This woman is a NURSE for god sake. the American Nurses Association supports MMJ. She takes the stuff herself and KNOWS it works. It REALLY irks me when "educated" people make asinine remarks like that. What a dingbat. OHHHHH the kiiiiidsssssss, we MUST protect THE KIDDDDSSSSSSS!!!! Isn't supposedly "protecting" the flower of American youth what started the whole drug war and subsequently the rise in drug use by like a million percent (we all know the real reasons why cannabis was outlawed). Oh well. Rant over.
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