Well another significant battle has been won in the war against marijuana oppression, for this week the state of New Hampshire has become the nineteenth state in the country to legalize medical marijuana. The governor of New Hampshire Maggie Hassan signed the bill into law, it is not perfect but just getting it through the state legislature was quite the chore. This means that all the states in the northeast that make up New England now have medical marijuana available to the patients who desperately need it, and it is expected that New York will be the next one to approve its use. Governor Maggie Hassan stated that this bill was the right and compassionate policy for the state and contains provisions that the system will not be abused, the law takes effect immediately though it is expected that it will take over a year for the state to have a system set up for dispensing medical marijuana. Unfortunately one of the compromises they had to make in the passing of the bill is allowing zero provisions to allow growing medical marijuana for personal use, patients must obtain their marijuana from one of four dispensaries to be located around the state. This is not good news as it will guarantee that marijuana will be unobtainable for those patients that can't afford it, since it gives the state the power to set prices with no threat of competition.
This gives concern to what Florida can expect when we finally get medical marijuana in the sunshine state, who is going to control the dispensaries? Also what will be the punishments for those who are caught growing their own marijuana for medical purposes? It would be quite unfair to send someone to prison for growing marijuana because they couldn't afford the high prices at the dispensaries. The other issue is what constitutes an illness requiring medical marijuana? In New Hampshire the new specifically states what illnesses are eligible for the prescription, some of them include HIV, AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, hepatitis, and ALS. So it seems doubtful that you will be able to obtain medical marijuana to help ease your migraine headaches, or in my case to help ease the pain from chronic arthritis. More states that accept legalization are bogging it down with legal specifics likes this, which will make acquiring marijuana legally more of a hassle that obtaining it illegally! Still the war continues on and this is one more victory for our cause, just think we only have to get six more states to turn and then half the country will have medical marijuana available! Let’s hope that Florida becomes one of the next states to legalize.
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