Patients have died while waiting for the state bureaucrats to finally allow the four legally-authorized medical cannabis dispensaries to open. Despite medical cannabis passing in 2012, bureaucrats dragged their feet on implementation until now, four years later the dispensaries are finally opening. So far there are locations in Plymouth, Dover, and Lebanon. Until the ultra-restrictive medical cannabis statutes are changed, the fourth facility still-to-open in Manchester will be the final one for the whole state.
Worse, apparently patients are assigned to a specific dispensary and can’t buy at the other three locations. All of these restrictions are continued, desperate attempts by the state to control a plant they’ve never been able to control. One patient, speaking anonymously, told me that he would no longer be buying from the dispensary as the quality of cannabis he can find on the black market is better.
Cannabis needs to be legal to possess, grow, transport, and sell with no government involvement whatsoever. Without true market competition, the government-approved, artificially-limited number of dispensaries will never be able to reach their full potential.
This is going to be a big election year with many prohibitionist senators leaving office as well as the governor, who has long stood in the way of any meaningful decriminalization. Cannabis freedom activists have pledged to make sure legalization is a major issue this election season.
Meanwhile, the state’s medical cannabis program continues to slowly move ahead. WMUR got to take a look inside one of the few legal growing operations in New Hampshire – here’s the video:
Once again, I’m throwing my hat into the ring for the office of governor for New Hampshire in the democratic race. The first time I did so was in 2014 where I garnered second place and received more than 4% of the vote against then-incumbent Maggie Hassan in a campaign where I accepted no campaign contributions and spent approximately $2.50 on postage to reply to various candidate questionnaires.
My goal was to spread the ideas of liberty and NH declaring independence from the federal government. That continues to be my goal. It’s unlikely I will defeat the establishment candidates who will be well-funded by the powers-that-be. However, I will do the best I can to spread the ideas of liberty and NH independence with virtually no campaign budget.
NH Liberty Party
In 2014 I had the opportunity to address the republican debate held at Franklin Pierce University, since the other two candidates in the democratic primary refused to debate. What will happen this time? Stay tuned here to the NH Liberty Party blog for campaign updates. Or, just sign up for emailed updates via the signup box in the right-hand column of NHLiberty.info. Hopefully we’ll be announcing other NH Liberty Party candidates for other state races as the filing period runs from today through June 10th.
Here’s a page with details about my campaign and my prime issues which include ending prohibition, declaring independence from the federal government, and ballot access fairness. Thank you for your interest!
According to the Marijuana Policy Project‘s Matt Simon, the new compromised “decriminalization” bill discussed Tuesday at the state house isn’t going to change much of anything at all”.
On May 24th the senate met with the NH house to discuss a compromised cannabis “decriminalization” bill. The turnout for the meeting was very good, but the prohibitionist senators again stood in the way of real progress. This video contains the full press conference, the very short hearing, a recap by Matt Simon of MPP.org, and Rich Paul and I hounding a couple of prohibitionist police chiefs afterwards. Enjoy!
On Monday’s episode of Free Talk Live we went into detail about Rich Paul’s recent arrest in Salem, NH for possession of cannabis. We spent most of the last hour of the show discussing it. In short, a few weeks ago, Rich and a friend were heading back from dropping an activist at Boston airport and stopped off at a rest area once back in New Hampshire. While there, they smoked a joint before heading back out on the road. They were immediately pulled over before even leaving the rest area, as it turns out they had smoked up in the middle of an undercover police operation that was monitoring the rest area that day for heroin deals.
According to Rich, the police seemed disappointed they didn’t bust any heroin and would have been willing to issue them summonses and release them on the scene, but Rich’s passenger did not have ID on him, so they were taken back to the police station for booking. Ultimately they were released on PR bail and issued court dates. Both have been charged with Class A misdemeanors for possession, which means they could take this to a jury trial, unless the state reduces the charges to Class B.
If it does go in front of a jury, it will be the first time an NH liberty activist has gone to jury trial for simple possession. Rich is looking forward to his chance at a jury trial, especially since he is a minister of the Church of the Invisible Hand and considers cannabis to be a sacrament.
One big, and as-yet-unanswered question is whether the state will motion the court to impose Rich’s suspended sentence from his previous conviction for selling cannabis. Stay tuned here for the latest.
The Free State Project migration of liberty activists to New Hampshire continues to be a topic of discussion in NH media, because we’re making an impact, unlike libertarians pretty much everywhere else in the world. Most libertarian groups never or rarely get press, but liberty activists in New Hampshire get coverage frequently.
Dan Eaton, also an in-studio guest and a state rep from Stoddard called Free Staters in the state house “obstructionist” and accused them of hiding their true political affiliations. He also insulted Keene’s Robin Hooders, calling us “rude” and suggested that we are un-civil. Eaton trotted out the claim, long since proven false, that Robin Hooders “harass” the parking enforcers. Gericke let this slander slide by with no response. Overall, Gericke did well in the interview and did defend independent media when Eaton accused us of “intimidating” senators with our video cameras from the NH senate gallery.
Free State Project President Carla Gericke Keynoting Keenevention 2014
Eaton and a caller accused Free Staters of hiding their true beliefs to get elected. While some people may not be being honest in politics, no one can accuse Keene libertarians of hiding. One caller did point out correctly that Free Staters are running as republicans and democrats because the ballot access for third parties in NH is very difficult and was made that way by the very same people who are complaining about the Free Staters “hiding”.
Eaton specifically attacked Free Keene and suggested that we somehow set up the topless open carry event from several years ago, which we didn’t – we just reported on it. Eaton (or maybe it was Union Leader’s Drew Cline who was also a guest on the show) also called for the FSP to purge its rolls of all anarchists and Carla did not respond. While I personally don’t identify with the term “anarchist”, as I am a voluntarist, I am pretty sure that Carla has referred to herself as an anarchist in the past. Is Carla now a “minarchist” (a supporter of small government) or is she also hiding her true beliefs?
Exchange host Laura Knoy has been made aware in the past that Keene’s Robin Hooders would be happy to appear on her show to address the lies told about us, and she’s never taken us up on it, instead allowing the slander to continue, interview after interview. Carla, despite knowing the truth about us, sits silently rather than defend the peaceful Robin Hooders that brought the Free State Project millions of dollars in good publicity internationally. Further, Carla even labels Keene activists as “shock jocks”. Is that a term only for those of us doing talk radio here or all the controversial activists?
A friend of mine threw a viewing party for Victimless Crime Spree last night in Manchester, NH. Everyone in attendance had already seen the film, some of them several times, and because of that something unique happened: Audience members began interacting with the various scenes in the movie. During “Give Peace a Chance,” they lit up. During the crossing guard scene, they took out their cameras and recorded. This inspired a bunch more suggestions. This list was sent to me today, and I had to share it. Throw your own viewing party for Victimless Crime Spree, and play along!
Here are the audience participation parts:
WHEN: Lady cop yells, “I give you an order and you gonna obey it!”
AP: Yell “Don’t tell me what to do!”
WHEN: Derrick J tries to light the bowl at the “Give Peace A Chance” rally.
AP: Spark up! (more…)
![inthenews-nhpr[1]](https://i0.wp.com/freekeene.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/inthenews-nhpr1.jpg?resize=100%2C100)
