cannabisnews.com: Group Wants Lynch To Veto Medical Pot Bill
function share_this(num) {
tit=encodeURIComponent('Group Wants Lynch To Veto Medical Pot Bill');
url=encodeURIComponent('http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/24/thread24896.shtml');
site = new Array(5);
site[0]='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+url+'&title='+tit;
site[1]='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit.php?url='+url+'&title='+tit;
site[2]='http://digg.com/submit?topic=political_opinion&media=video&url='+url+'&title='+tit;
site[3]='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+url+'&title='+tit;
site[4]='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+url+'&title='+tit;
window.open(site[num],'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=620,height=500');
return false;
}
Group Wants Lynch To Veto Medical Pot Bill
Posted by CN Staff on June 30, 2009 at 04:48:22 PT
By Kevin Landrigan, Staff Writer
Source: Nashua Telegraph
Concord, NH -- A conservative watchdog group called upon Gov. John Lynch on Monday to veto a bill legalizing medical use of marijuana on financial grounds. Cornerstone Policy Research said a 20-page compromise (HB 648) approved by lawmakers would require an "overly cumbersome and expensive bureaucratic response.''The bill calls for an estimated $250,000 for the Department of Health and Human Services to oversee the dispensing of the drug exclusively to patients who have a debilitating illness.
But Cornerstone Executive Director Kevin Smith said the HHS estimate was based on a previous version of the bill that had allowed patients and caregivers to obtain and grow marijuana on their own."The newly written bill is clearly going to cost a lot more than $250,000,'' Smith said.The final agreement soon to reach the governor's desk restricts distribution to private, nonprofit "compassion centers'' that would likely be sited in the southern part of the state."It only stands to reason that the state's role is going to have to be a whole lot more significant if it needs to regulate distribution from these compassion centers,'' Smith said.Supporters of the bill stress that any cost to state government is covered under the proposal."Apparently Kevin Smith didn't read the entire bill, which clearly states that fees must be set to cover all the program's expenses,'' said Matt Simon, head of New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy.Simon said state officials admitted back in March that their original estimate for the cost of the bill was too high. He said Smith and his organization had never even weighed in on the legislation until Monday."Until now, no opponent of HB 648 has publicly made this argument against the bill, although it would have been the obvious argument if it had any basis in reality,'' Simon said. "Smith has been very busy this year battling over gay marriage and other issues, so this may be an honest mistake. If so, we can expect he will issue a correction to his organization's e-mail list so members will know the truth about HB 648.''The final bill calls on HHS to develop a schedule of fees to be paid by operators of the compassion centers. Simon said the 13 states, including Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island, where medical marijuana is legal have had no problem raising enough money to administer their programs.Cornerstone did not weigh in on the medical marijuana bill until Monday, but had opposed a related measure that died in the House that would have decriminalized possession of up to one ounce of pot. Source: Nashua Telegraph, The (Nashua, NH)Author: Kevin Landrigan, Staff WriterPublished: Tuesday, June 30, 2009Copyright: 2009 Telegraph Publishing CompanyContact: letters nashuatelegraph.comWebsite: http://www.nashuatelegraph.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/Ul2bfZYTRelated Articles:Marijuana Bill Sent To Lynch http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24893.shtmlAfter Lawmakers' OK, MMJ Bill Goes To Lynchhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24891.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help
Comment #6 posted by George Servantes on July 01, 2009 at 05:56:45 PT
Hope
It's the law of the universe that nothing last forever, so prohibition won't last forever either.
But I bet they want us to think they are like gods and their laws are infallible.
There is no permanent hell state, our suffering will end one day and then we'll think how was anyone able to outlaw nature in first place.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #5 posted by Hope on June 30, 2009 at 17:37:10 PT
I'm so sorry, George..
but apparently they do.That makes me very sad. I hope we overcome their hateful and conniving ways soon.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #4 posted by George Servantes on June 30, 2009 at 17:19:57 PT
So they want me to suffer...
I have to suffer from pain every day and night because of somebodies selfish desires and interests. How can you outlaw nature?
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #3 posted by FoM on June 30, 2009 at 10:26:29 PT
Conservative or Conservative
I wish they would figure out which kind of conservative they all are.Morally or money issues. They do flip flop back and forth to make their point. They gotta make a point you know.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #2 posted by Hope on June 30, 2009 at 10:18:11 PT
$250,000?
That's a drop in the bucket as far as political and governmental spending goes. What is that? Five or six new jobs in the bureaucracy?What about the money saved from not arresting and prosecuting medical use patients? That's got to be way more than enough to make up any difference.If their false moralizing doesn't work, they sure do switch handily to "Love of money" to try to get their prohibitionist work done.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #1 posted by dongenero on June 30, 2009 at 08:04:10 PT
conservative obstructionists
So, the "fiscal conservatives" say running the program will be a cost burden?Ok then, play "small government conservative" and get the heck out of the way. You know what buzz words to say, "government is not the solution, government is the problem." Take it to heart.
[ Post Comment ]
Post Comment