New Hampshire governor John Lynch on July 10 vetoed legislation that would have made New Hampshire the 14th state to legalize marijuana use by severely ill people. The bill passed the House by 232-108 and the senate by 14-10. If enough people call their legislators, it’s possible that the legislature will over-ride Lynch’s veto. Legislators’ contact info is at www.gencourt.state.nh.us

The Drug Policy Alliance www.drugpolicy.org supports the bill that Lynch vetoed. The Alliance works to “advance policies that reduce the harms of both drug misuse and drug prohibition... We work to ensure that our nation’s drug policies no longer arrest, incarcerate, disenfranchise and otherwise harm millions of nonviolent people… As a result of our work, hundreds of thousands of people have been diverted from incarceration to drug treatment programs, tens of thousands of sick and dying patients can safely access their medicine without being considered criminals under the law, and states like California have saved more than $1.5 billion by eliminating wasteful and ineffective law enforcement, prosecution and prison expenditures.”