Senate votes to expand medical marijuana

On Thursday, February 23 the New Hampshire Senate passed SB 144, a bill that would give doctors more leeway when recommending medical marijuana for a patient. 

Under current state law, a patient can only use medical marijuana if they have one of eighteen conditions. For more information about qualifying conditions and how to get medical marijuana in New Hampshire, see our issue page.

SB 144 would allow a doctor to recommend marijuana for a patient with any condition, so long as the patient experiences one of the following symptoms: “elevated intraocular pressure, cachexia, chemotherapy-induced anorexia, wasting syndrome, agitation of Alzheimer's disease, severe pain that has not responded to previously prescribed medication or surgical measures or for which other treatment options produced serious side effects, constant or severe nausea, moderate to severe vomiting, seizures, or severe, persistent muscle spasms.”

SB 144 would therefore allow medical marijuana for many medical conditions.

Bill supporters argue that doctors, rather than lawmakers, know best when marijuana is appropriate for a patient. There are several other bills in this legislative session to add one condition or another to the medical marijuana law; this single bill would make many of those bills unnecessary.

Bill opponents argue that the legislature should only add individual conditions to the law as studies draw conclusions about the benefits of marijuana for specific conditions.

Earlier in this session the Senate passed bills to add hepatitis C and chronic pain to the qualifying conditions for medical marijuana.

Do you support SB 144? Share your opinion in the comments.