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.
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