Marijuana Policy Project

Unless you hid under a rock all summer, you know most Americans don't want government interference in their health care.

Democrats and Republicans may have their differences, but there is universal agreement that decisions regarding medical treatments must be exclusively between the doctor and patient. If a medicine works to accomplish healing, that is what we must get, neither the government nor insurance companies have any place blocking this process. All agree?

Well then.

New Hampshire government has no place interfering in decisions about treatment options for people suffering from serious illnesses.

The vast majority of Granite Staters disagree with the governor¹s unilateral decision to get in the way of doctor-patient healing decisions when he vetoed the House and Senate approved medical marijuana bill, HB 648. A vote to override comes up October 28th.

A recent Mason-Dixon poll showed that 71 percent of New Hampshire voters support allowing seriously and terminally ill patients to have access medical marijuana for personal use if their doctors recommend it. Only 21 percent were opposed. Legislators have no need to look for political cover.

The medical marijuana bill is strongly supported by Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike. The House easily passed the bill with an impressive 45 Republican votes. It's not a left-right issue at all.

Those committee members who actually heard the testimony from those afflicted with serious illnesses came out strongly for the bill. They actually listened to patients, gave the issue fair study, and worked hard to pass a tightly-crafted, exceptionally responsible bill. Fifteen out of 20 members of the House HHS committee voted in favor of the amended bill, and 4 out of 5 committee members supported it in the Senate.

On the other hand, Gov. Lynch chose not to meet with any patients with the debilitating medical conditions specified.

Those legislators still on the fence on the veto override, those not on the committees and thus not able to listen to real people now owe it to their constituents to make the effort. It will change their minds, I guarantee.

New Hampshire is not California. What happened there was a public referendum. The sponsors of this bill, the seriously ill patients who are awaiting help, agree California is the last thing they want. New Hampshire¹s bill is the tightest in the nation, by design.

US Attorney General Eric Holder recently said that the Justice Department has no plans to prosecute marijuana dispensaries that are operating legally in the thirteen states.

There is no question that medical marijuana is effective at alleviating the pain associated with various debilitating conditions. These include cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, muscle spasms, Hepatitis C and others. There is no question marijuana clearly does have therapeutic value. The American Public Health Association, the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of HIV Medicine, the Lymphoma Society, as well as several state medical societies, support allowing the medical use of marijuana.

Many cancer and other patients stopped their deadly wasting and nausea only through medical marijuana, which is less expensive and far more effective in restoring appetite and enabling patients to function normally.

Some readers may not know that very recently I had Hepatitis C. For more than half of patients with Hep C, the biggest problem is keeping them on the interferon and ribavirin. I surely know why — the side effects are truly awful. Hepatitis C patients must endure one or often two grueling 48 week courses.

If I'd had to do another course of that brutal treatment, I probably would have given up and just taken my chances. There is ample evidence that Hep C patients who use marijuana are more likely to stay on their treatment and clear the virus.

As of now, many seriously ill Granite Staters are forced to make a terrible decision: continue to suffer, miss days at work, risk losing their job, or obtain marijuana illegally and risk arrest and prison. That's nuts.

We should stop wasting time and resources on going after sick people and focus on real crime.

What do we have to gain by denying those who could benefit from the use of medical marijuana the opportunity to do so?

The overwhelming majority of Democrats and Republicans agree that doctors, not cops and bureaucrats, should be the ones deciding what constitutes effective medicine.

The votes ro override Lynch's veto are very likely there in the House, but two more votes are needed in the Senate.

Health care reform starts at home. Get government out of medical decisions, leave it between doctor and patient.