Medical NH

From WMUR:

"Medical marijuana dispensary opens Saturday morning"

Granite Staters with medical marijuana cards will be able to get therapeutic cannabis in the state Saturday morning after the state Legislature legalized medicinal cannabis in July of 2013.  Sanctuary ATC announced Friday that it would open its dispensary in Plymouth at 11 a.m. The company said there could be long lines throughout the weekend. Dr. Syrek is the pathologist on staff with Sanctuary ATC. He said 147 patients and caregivers have qualified to receive cannabis at their center. New patients will have to fill out intake forms, and only people who have a therapeutic cannabis card will be able to enter the facility. "These patients have serious conditions and they want their medical cannabis to really help them," said Syrek, "I've talked to patients that have stage 4 cancer and it's terminal, and they say that cannabis is the only thing that helps them with their pain." Syrek sees therapeutic cannabis as a safer, non-addictive alternative to opioids prescribed to numb pain. "First of all, you can't overdose or die from marijuana. It's impossible," he said, "Because your brain stem, which controls your breathing and your cardiovascular functions, has no receptors to where the cannabinoids can bind to." John Martin with the Department of Health and Human Services said more than 800 people have already applied to receive medical marijuana in the therapeutic cannabis program, but he expects more after tomorrow. "Our anticipation is that numbers will tick up now that people know that there is a place I can actually purchase products," Martin said. Three others dispensaries have licenses. Temescal Wellness will open its dispensaries in Dover and Lebanon in the next few weeks, and Prime ATC expects to open its Merrimack dispensary this summer.

^ This is long-overdue. There is no excuse that it took nearly 3 years for New Hampshire to go from making medical marijuana legal to giving people access to it. The state is just slow to get anything done and that means that people who are in extreme pain have had to suffer for that incompetence - especially after the tightening of opioid prescriptions. ^

http://www.wmur.com/health/medical-marijuana-dispensary-to-open-saturday-morning/39288200