The persistent push to legalize medical marijuana distribution in New Hampshire has flown mostly under the radar this session, as budget matters and issues like fighting federal health care reform have made most of the headlines. But the initiative has momentum, and today brings a vote that could hold the key to its fate.
In many ways, House Bill 71 is a case study in successful bipartisan legislative work. Ring a bell?
The often adversarial nature of politics — this session in the New Hampshire Legislature being no exception — begs the question of what it takes to find common ground. The reality is complicated. For all their public bickering, lawmakers often do get along, especially at the committee level. But that fact of life doesn’t make many headlines.
Enter the pharmaceutical drug take-back program.
In three days next week, N.H. House members will decide the fate of more than 250 bills and amendments.
To prepare for the flurry of activity, today we begin a series of dispatches looking at some of the bills we’ve followed from early stages through public hearings and committee votes. We start with bills that are on the “consent,” or voice vote calendar.
Unused pharmaceuticals increasingly fuel addiction and environmental concerns, but two new bills could help keep New Hampshire’s excess medications off the streets and out of the water supply — while getting some of them to patients for whom costly pills are largely out of reach.
In October 2009, the New Hampshire Senate failed by two votes to override Gov. John. John Lynch’s veto of a bill that would have legalized medical marijuana use. The bill’s prime sponsor, Democratic Rep. Evalyn Merrick of Lancaster was disappointed but said she would file the bill again for the 2011 legislative session. Merrick, who [...]
Unused prescription drugs could soon be donated to some uninsured or underinsured patients in New Hampshire. The Board of Pharmacy is working with three test sites in Hanover, Rochester and Exeter to roll out the Unused Prescription Drug Program created by the Legislature in 2006.
It’s a social cause that could save the state a lot of money, too.