New Hampshire Legislature Fails to Override Veto of Medical Marijuana Bill
New Hampshire legislature fails to override veto of medical marijuana bill
The Republican-led New Hampshire legislature has failed override the governor's veto of a medical marijuana bill by three votes. Democratic Gov. John Lynch vetoed the bill on July 21. He said the bill did not do enough to prevent medical marijuana from being used by those who didn't really need it. Lynch vetoed similar legislation in 2009. "I cannot support establishing a system for the use of medical marijuana that poses risks to the patient, lacks adequate oversight and funding, and risks the proliferation of a serious drug," Lynch said.
The Senate on Friday voted 13-10 to override the veto, but fell short of the 16 votes needed. The bill would have allowed patients with a written certification from their doctor to cultivate up to six ounces of marijuana. Only patients with serious chronic or terminal diseases, such as cancer, AIDS and Parkinson's, would be eligible to possess marijuana. "Gov. Lynch has chosen to bury his head in the sand on this issue, and once again he was able to get enough lawmakers to join him and deprive the people of New Hampshire of much-needed relief," Matt Simon, a legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, said.
"We will continue working with lawmakers to allow seriously ill patients to use marijuana free from the fear of arrest. We are hopeful that the new governor will be more reasonable." Medical marijuana laws have been approved in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as well as Washington, D.C. SOURCE: www.rawstory.com AUTHOR: Eric W. Dolan
S
Soft Secrets
