CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE — Advocates for the New Hampshire medical marijuana bill recently passed by the state Legislature announced a new TV ad today urging Gov. John Lynch to allow the bill to become law.

The ad, which is available online at www.mpp.org/NHads, features Fremont resident Dennis Acton, who used medical marijuana to relieve the nausea he experienced while undergoing treatment for testicular cancer in 1999.

"If I smoked just a very small amount of marijuana, just a few puffs, I experienced immediate relief that I didn't get with any other drug," Acton says in the ad, which will air on WMUR, CNN, MSNBC and other cable stations across the state beginning today. "I hope Gov. Lynch will have the courage to step up and sign this bill into law."

HB 648, which would remove the threat of arrest for seriously ill patients who use medical marijuana with their doctor's recommendation, was amended earlier this month by a special legislative committee to address eight specific concerns expressed by Lynch.

The key change to the bill, as requested by the governor, involves removing a provision allowing patients or their caregivers to cultivate their own marijuana plants, as patients are permitted to do in all 13 states that currently protect medical marijuana patients from arrest. Instead, the amended bill allows for the creation of up to three nonprofit "compassion centers," which could legally cultivate medical marijuana and dispense it to qualified patients.

Another concern that has been expressed, in this year of difficult budget cuts, has been over the program's potential cost to taxpayers. Fortunately, the bill clearly states that fees for patients and compassion centers must be set to cover the entire cost of the program. The Department of Health and Human Services would determine what fee to charge for patients and compassion center staff ID cards. It would also set the fees for all applicants wishing to become compassion centers and for the licensing of approved compassion centers. In other states, medical marijuana programs have generally had no trouble covering their expenses and have even generated surpluses. In fact, both Vermont and Montana have been able to reduce their fees for patients while continuing to cover all costs. In Oregon, the state's medical marijuana ID card program generated a surplus of over $1 million.

Public Should Have Right to Review, Comment on Gov’t Report

Washington, D.C., June 30, 2009—The Competitive Enterprise Institute today is demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency allow public comment on an internal global warming report that the agency itself suppressed.

CEI is submitting the report to the EPA and formally requesting that EPA re-open the comment period on its so-called “endangerment proceeding,” so the public can comment on both the report and on EPA’s conduct. EPA’s official comment period ended June 23.

Today’s actions follow CEI’s release of internal EPA emails a week ago that demonstrated the agency cover-up, followed by a draft version of the report released last Thursday. A day later, the author of the report was given permission by the agency to release the final report but only on his own website.

“EPA sits on this report for over three months, and then only allows it to be made public on the author’s personal website,” said CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman. “The fact that we have to formally re-file it with the agency indicates how unreal this situation is.”

The report criticizes the agency’s proposal to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. It concludes that EPA is relying on outdated research and is ignoring major new developments. Those developments include a continued decline in global temperatures, a new consensus that future hurricanes will not be more frequent or intense, and new findings that water vapor will moderate, rather than exacerbate, temperature. It finds that ocean cycles are probably the most important single factor in explaining temperature fluctuations.

VIEW THE FINAL EPA INTERNAL REPORT

VIEW THE DRAFT REPORT

VISIT THE AUTHOR’S WEBSITE

VIEW CEI’S REQUEST TO EPA

VIEWCEI’S JUNE 18 PUBLIC COMMENT TO EPA ON ENDANGERMENT FINDING

Healthcare Reform: Will Obama Let You Into His Lifeboat?
Why the elderly should be very, very afraid.

ALG in the News: WBT 1110AM
Pete Kaliner interviews ALG President Bill Wilson.

All of these articles and many others can be accessed through www.ConservativeHQ.com.

Washington D.C. – On the heels of the historic passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act in the U.S. House with bipartisan support, Americans United for Change unveiled a new television ad today hailing Congressman Paul Hodes for meeting President Obama’s challenge to begin establishing America as a world leader in clean energy while paving the way for creating millions of new jobs (including 8,000 jobs in New Hampshire), reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, and curbing pollution that causes global warming. CLICK HERE to view the national version of the television ad titled “Uniquely American.” *See script below for the local version of the spot featuring Representative Hodes, which will run in the Manchester media market next week.

Tom McMahon, Acting Executive Director, Americans United for Change: “Thanks to Congressman Hodes’s leadership in Congress, America has taken a giant leap towards becoming the global standard for clean energy while creating thousands of jobs in New Hampshire in the process. This historic legislation will help build a solid foundation for long-term economic prosperity by meeting President Obama’s challenge to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil and curbing pollution that causes global warming. We stand with Congressman Hodes as he continues to stand up to the forces of ‘status quo’and helps move this historic clean energy jobs bill to the President’s desk as quickly as possible.”

Washington D.C. – On the heels of the historic passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act in the U.S. House with bipartisan support, Americans United for Change unveiled a new television ad today hailing Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter for meeting President Obama’s challenge to begin establishing America as a world leader in clean energy while paving the way for creating millions of new jobs (including 8,000 jobs in New Hampshire), reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, and curbing pollution that causes global warming. CLICK HERE to view the national version of the television ad titled “Uniquely American.” *See script below for the local version of the spot featuring Representative Shea-Porter which will run in the Manchester media market next week.

Tom McMahon, Acting Executive Director, Americans United for Change: “Thanks to Congresswoman Shea-Porter’s leadership in Congress, America has taken a giant leap towards becoming the global standard for clean energy while creating thousands of jobs in New Hampshire in the process. This historic legislation will help build a solid foundation for long-term economic prosperity by meeting President Obama’s challenge to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil and curbing pollution that causes global warming. We stand with Congresswoman Shea-Porter as she continues to stand up to the forces of ‘status quo’and helps move this historic clean energy jobs bill to the President’s desk as quickly as possible.”

“I am pleased that New Hampshire will be receiving funds to improve our natural resources,” said Congresswoman Shea-Porter. “This is an environmentally sound project that will benefit our native fish.”

“On Independence Day, Americans remember the courage and sacrifices of our founders, who stood for liberty and freedom from tyranny. I am grateful to them and to those Americans since then who have protected our freedom, including all of our troops and their families."

“This grant will allow people to keep a stable roof over their heads and it creates construction jobs,” said Congresswoman Shea-Porter. “It further illustrates the progress of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”