State House And Senate Vote to Legalize Medical Marijuana

The Senate acted first on the medical marijuana bill.

They acted quietly…voting without debate or discussion along near party lines.

President Sylvia Larsen read the tally.

The vote is 14 in the affirmative, 10 in the negative. The committee of conference bill on house bill 648 is adopted.

House lawmakers took only slightly longer to pass the bill.

The only opponent to speak did what he could to stress what law enforcement has argued from the outset that legalizing marijuana for any reason was a bad idea.

Hooksett Republican David Hess stressed that the bill would encourage people to break federal drug laws.

Hess also claimed that the measure could put state regulated sanctioned marijuana dispensaries—what the bill terms compassion centers in areas where they shouldn’t be.

Madame speaker, if you know that this bill allows these 3 compassion center marijuana fields to be located within 500 feet of schools which is less than half of the one thousand foot parameter for drug free schools would you join me and vote no and press the red button ?

Hess’s arguments swayed just 108 members.

Twice as many lawmakers voted in support of the proposal.

Under the bill, patients could possess up to two ounces of marijuana.

And they’d have to have the consent of a doctor to legally access the weed.

As originally drafted, the patients would have also been able to grow their own.

But that changed in a committee of conference.

Representative Cindy Rosenwald of Nashua chairs the House Human Services Committee and she shepherded the bill through the legislature.

She said right outside the House chamber that in the new version of the bill, the compassion centers would be controlled places to grow the crop.

We’re talking about 3 places in the state under lock and key, secret locations with security systems also everyone affiliated with those centers is required to undergo both state and federal criminal background checks.

Before the final votes, Governor John Lynch told reporters he’d yet to read the newest version of the bill.

You know my concern all along has been cultivation and the distribution of it. It’s not the dispensation of it to people who need it. And I’ve been very concerned that that process be done in a way that contains it and doesn’t allow for distribution.

If Lynch doesn’t veto the bill, New Hampshire will become the 14th state to allow for the medical use of pot and just the fourth to allow medical marijuana dispensaries.