The N.H. Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled public hearings for several bills on Thursday, January 11. Unfortunately, three of the bills being considered would negatively impact patients. These hearings will take place in Room 100 of the State House in Concord.
Here’s a quick rundown on the three problematic bills, in the order they are scheduled:
1pm: SB 418 (Gannon) – for DWI prosecutions, establishing an arbitrary, unscientific limit of 2 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood.
1:15pm: SB 419 (Gannon) – establishing an arbitrary, unscientific limit of 16% THC for all therapeutic cannabis products.
1:30pm: SB 426 (Gannon) – establishing a misdemeanor penalty for possessing cannabis in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle. Cannabis and cannabis products would have to be “kept in a secure container that is not in the passenger compartment” (a trunk, for example) in order to avoid this criminal penalty. There would not be an exception for therapeutic cannabis patients.
For more details on SB 418 and SB 419 and how they would negatively impact patients, check out our previous blog.
How Can You Make a Difference?
It’s very important that senators hear from patients who would be affected by these bills. Here are four ways you can make an impact:
(1) Sign in to indicate your position to the committee.
It’s easy to sign in and register your position on a bill from home. Just visit the Senate’s remote sign-in page and follow these simple steps for each bill you care about. You can do this now or anytime before the public hearings. First select the date on the calendar (1/11), then select the committee from the drop-down box (Senate Judiciary), followed by the bill number.
(2) Testify at the hearing or email the Senate Judiciary Committee.
If you’d like to testify in person, you can sign up in the committee room before the hearings. Due to time constraints, it’s best to limit testimony to no more than two or three minutes per person.
If you’d like to submit written testimony or simply email the committee members to express your opinions, visit the committee’s webpage and click “Email Entire Committee.”
IMPORTANT: If you decide to testify at the public hearing or communicate with elected officials, please be courteous and respectful. Elected officials tend to respond unfavorably if advocates appear disrespectful of the legislative process.
(3) Call or email your state senator.
There are only 24 state senators in N.H., so each vote is critical. If you don’t already know who your senator is, you can look them up and find their contact information here. Sending a personal email may take more time than signing in on the remote sign-in page, but it is well worth doing. If senators don’t hear from patients who benefit from therapeutic cannabis, they may never understand why the Therapeutic Cannabis Program is so valuable and important.
You can also call your senator’s office and share your concerns about these bills. The call will likely either be answered by a staff member or go to voice mail. Here’s a sample script you can use:
“Hi, my name is ________ and I live in ________(city or town). I’m calling because I’m very concerned about SB 418, SB 419, and SB 426, and I wanted to share my concerns with Senator ________. These bills would negatively impact patients who are benefitting from therapeutic cannabis in New Hampshire. I hope the senator will vote ‘no.’ Thank you for your time.”
If you’d like to reference a sample email to legislators, we included one in our previous blog.
(4) Share details with your friends!
Do your friends care about sensible and compassionate cannabis policies? If so, please share the link to our blog and encourage them to take action!
One Good Bill
On the bright side, the Senate Judiciary Committee will also be considering a bill on January 11 that would allow more medical providers to certify patients for therapeutic cannabis.
9:30am: SB 357 (Whitley) – allowing therapeutic cannabis certifications by any New Hampshire medical provider who is licensed to prescribe drugs to humans and possesses an active DEA registration.
Sadly, many patients continue to report that they have difficulty finding a provider who is knowledgeable about therapeutic cannabis. This bill would help by allowing a broader range of providers, including naturopathic doctors, to certify patients. The bill would also allow medical providers who provide pediatric care to certify minor patients. Currently, N.H. requires two certifications for minor patients, and one must be from a pediatrician. However, this is problematic because many children are served by family practice providers rather than pediatricians.
A previous version of this bill (HB 610) passed the House and Senate in 2023 but did not become law. The Therapeutic Cannabis Medical Oversight Board recommended this bill.
Thank you for your interest in helping to preserve the Therapeutic Cannabis Program!
