Due to Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s common-sense leadership toward Granite State public health, the State House effort to legalize recreational marijuana has dimmed somewhat. However, New Hampshire’s Therapeutic Cannabis Program (TCP) is the renewed legislative focus of pro-marijuana advocates. This year there are seven House bills aimed at this effort:
1. Change the definition of cannabis to exclude “seed” so the Alternative Treatment Centers (ATCs) may acquire seed product and formulate other items for their menu. This is an in-depth issue involving federal guidance and USDA policy. However, some limitations for applying federal guidance to New Hampshire law exist because our state does not use the same standardized terms for marijuana as the federal government. In addition, our state does not have a USDA-approve hemp production plan to ensure source rule compliance for seed product. (HB51)
2. Allow TCP cardholders and caregivers to grown their own plants, and authorize the ATCs to sell plants to them. The problem: There is no oversight mechanism or funded inspection mandate to ensure compliance with the law. It also allows the ATCs to get into the plant selling business with no limit on the number of seedlings they can possess. (HB53)
3. Allow ATCs to operate a second cultivation site so they can grow marijuana outdoors or in a greenhouse. It also includes a provision to solicit input from TCP cardholders, which is a great way to keep them engaged so they can mount a full court press, on behalf of the ATCs, towards a municipality who is considering allowing a cultivation site. (HB301)
4. Waive the TCP card fee for veterans, even though the ATCs already offers discounted products to veterans, and there are unintended issues with excluding other deserving groups from a fee waive. (HB205)
5. Allow ATCs to become for-profit, which would open the floodgates to untold amounts of marijuana investor money into New Hampshire. This is a genie we will never get back in the bottle. (HB54)
6. Increase TCP cardholder legal marijuana possession amounts by 100 percent, without lengthening the frequency of times the cardholder can purchase product from the ATCs. (HB190)
7. Remove the felony penalty for TCP cardholders and their caregivers who sell their product to unauthorized users. This penalty has served as effective deterrence against criminal malfeasance and is not causing any known issues. (HB380)
There are three important ways in which marijuana advocates are hoping to widen NH’s TCP infrastructure:
1. An expansion of the current laws.
The laws surrounding NH’s Therapeutic Cannabis Program have been in constant evolution since the program was enacted in 2013. With any new program, it is understandable that adjustments may need to occur.
However, the adjustments we’ve seen since 2013 are more than tweaking a well-tuned system, but are leaning into as much expansion as the legislative body will tolerate each year. Lost in all this discussion is the fact that marijuana, even used medicinally, is still a Schedule 1, federally-illegal drug. Regardless of the reasons for use, marijuana poses serious health risks to include moderate to high addiction. In addition, the input from medical professionals on how someone should use the product typically stops after the approval of a TCP card. After that, dosing and product risk information that TCP cardholders are relying on for “medicine” are provided by ATC-paid medical staff and/or budtenders, who help customers select from a variety of products that are often classified by names such as Frosted Jungle, Dark Rainbow, Jealous Mike, and Banana Bread.
2. The expanding list of the qualifying medical conditions.
Since NH’s Therapeutic Cannabis Program was enacted in 2013, we have added about twelve additional items to the list of qualifying medical conditions. Of note, the most recent addition – generalized anxiety disorder – is becoming so ubiquitous in our culture (and particularly in our younger population), that the bar for qualifying for a TCP card is becoming dangerously low.
Of concern, some conditions are being put on the qualifying list even though the science is nowhere settled on if marijuana will help or harm. For example, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was recommended as a qualifying medical condition by the Therapeutic Cannabis Medical Oversight Board and approved by the legislature, even though there is widespread data which indicates that using marijuana to treat PTSD is not supported by medical analysis quite yet. (Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9882422/)
Of note, the FDA only authorized a clinical trial to study using marijuana for treatment of PTSD in veterans only a couple of months ago in November 2024. This also applies to Autism, another condition we approved to go on the list, even though there is real concern about psychosis risk by many in the medical community. (Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9407973/)
This expansion of qualifying medical conditions illustrates a concerning pattern of our state’s cart-before-the-horse approach, and our disinterest in any documentation which runs contrary to the marijuana advocate’s belief that pot aids all ailments.
3. The push by pro-marijuana advocate groups to expand the TCP cardholder roster.
This year, one of the leading marijuana advocate groups in New Hampshire is launching a campaign to increase the number of TCP cardholders. At this point, we have had years of non-stop conversations on marijuana, and its sold recreational in every state surrounding New Hampshire. When you still need to advertise to get more TCP cardholders, then it has little to do with providing an alternative resource for individuals experiencing debilitating medical conditions and more to do with getting additional people to use marijuana. The goal is to push the Overton Window on public perceptions around marijuana use and de-stigmatize it as a Schedule 1, federally-illegal drug.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen this play before. Advertising a product to get more users is exactly what Purdue Pharma did to get more people to use OxyContin. In hindsight, no one thought that was a good idea.
The expansion of NH’s TCP laws deserve the keen attention of our legislators. Everyone needs to keep their eyes on the stitches of this fastball, because the pro-marijuana advocates will never stop trying to make New Hampshire go up in smoke.
New Hampshire – HOMOLA: Marijuana Expansion – Watch the Stitches on This Fastball – NH Journal – Politics Read More
