Thursday, February 20, 2014

Can It Be a "Home-Grow" Bill Without "Home-Grow"?

The NH House Health and Human Services Committee considers in Executive Session its recommendation to the entire House on HB1622, "permitting qualifying patients and registered caregivers to cultivate cannabis for therapeutic use," 2/20/2014.

Much confusion reigns regarding what, exactly, is in the original bill. And a play is made to pre-emptively mollify a cantankerous Governor Maggie Hassan, who has again threatened to veto any bill that contains a provision for patients to grow their own medicine, which, while nominally legal for them to use at the moment, won't be legally available to them at all for likely most of 2 more years. This is now Maggie's imperious line, despite having supported "home-grow" when she was a lowly state senator -- she was for it before she was against it.

Following some spirited and heartfelt defenses of actually standing for something and doing the right thing rather than merely the politically expedient "path of least resistance" thing, ultimately the committee did the right thing, and refused to consent to play 'flak jacket' for Maggie's barbaric -- yes, I said barbaric, as in torturing pain patients for fun and profit -- intransigence. If she insists it be killed -- against the increasingly demonstrable wishes of her employers -- let her kill it. No political cover. No concessions.

Dunno about you, but at the very least, I want a freshly ringing battle over this to be a major campaign issue come November. It's long past time for servant government to do what it's told and get the hell out of the way. The next governor should be put on notice right now...




Friday, February 14, 2014

A Cop-Free Pot Hearing?!?

This is an auspicious day! I do believe we've turned a monumental corner. But, man, are these hearings getting testy, as the few remaining devout authoritarian prohibitionists desperately cling to their purloined power over others' peaceful lives.

HB1625, "relative to penalties for possession of marijuana in the amount of one ounce or less and the cultivation of marijuana plants" -- 'decrim' -- gets an animated airing before the NH House Criminal Justice Committee, 2/13/2014.

There's something that I can't quite wrap my mind around, though. The AG's lackeys have repeatedly stated in pot hearings this year that they wouldn't save any money were pot penalties lessened or even eradicated. They say they'd just re-purpose the time and money to other prosecutions, particularly, they note, heroin. So... Currently they're prioritizing marijuana prosecution over heroin...?

Media



Wednesday, February 5, 2014

'Oh, sure. I'm all in favor of 2A, but...'

HB1589, "requiring background checks for all firearm sales," gets its Executive Session before the NH House Commerce Committee, 2/4/2014, wherein the committee Chair announces that a member is out with the flu, and will be so for the rest of the week. This, we are informed, is tantamount to 'absent for a week', and the Chair is therefore replacing said member with a reliable authoritarian anti-RKBA vote from another committee. Then, it's terribly important to pass further restrictions before a study committee can research whether such increased restrictions actually result in more safe communities or less safe communities. Seems legit...

Watch the committee's 1/21/2014 public hearing here.