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Hanover to vote on medical marijuana

Lebanon Valley News

Hanover, NH May 3, 2007 . -- A group pushing for changes to drug policy has placed an article on next week's Town Meeting warrant asking voters to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Under the proposal, police are urged not to arrest anybody over the age of 21 for marijuana possession if the person has a note from a doctor, stating the drug is for therapeutic use. It would not apply to "distribution, cultivation, or sale" of the drug, nor to driving under the influence.

Town Manager Julia Griffin said the article may provoke a lively discussion, but voters should understand that it would be dead on arrival, even if approved. State law makes possession of marijuana illegal for any purpose and the state law would trump a town ordinance.

"We think it's very important for folks to discuss this in a context where they understand what we can and cannot do," Griffin said. "The warrant article as submitted is illegal, in terms of our ability to follow it."

The article was written by Manchester resident Stuart Cooper, executive director of Livefree. Cooper said the group decided to focus on local proposals after the Legislature rejected a bill to protect seriously ill patients who used marijuana on their doctors' advice.

Why Hanover? Cooper said he was impressed with Hanover's tradition of debating weighty policy issues at Town Meeting.

"The focus is making this the lowest law enforcement priority," Cooper said. "Anybody, of course, who abuses the policy should be treated how they are currently treated -- they should be arrested if they abuse the policy."

Hanover Police Chief Nick Giaccone thinks the article, even if it were enforced, wouldn't change things much for his officers. Giaccone said most drug arrests in town involve people under the age of 30. "That's generally not the crowd that would end up using marijuana for some type of medicinal purpose," he said.