HB301

Cultivating in cold weather states is very costly and constrained by available space within the current facilities. Opening up additional cultivation space could allow more and wider variety of product for patients as well as cost reductions from increased output and supply.

My name is Jim Riddle, Hillsboro, NH. I am a medical cannabis patient. Under existing NH State law, Alternative Treatment Centers are required to grow all cannabis plants indoors. This burdensome requirement increases costs for patients, causing many to purchase medical cannabis products from dispensaries in neighboring states, where many products are grown outdoors and in greenhouses. Current NH law requires ATCs to be energy inefficient by forcing them to use artificial light to grow all of their plants, making them totally reliant on fossil fuel energy. Greenhouses, on the other hand, get much of their energy from the sun, making them more energy efficient. The existing law wastes valuable resources and money. Just like the flavor of a fresh tomato from your garden, grown in healthy, living soil under the sun, compared to a tasteless greenhouse tomato from the grocery store, cannabis plants produce more phytonutrients when grown in full sun than when grown indoors. If NH medical cannabis patients need products grown in full sun, they must travel to neighboring states, which means that ATCs and the State of NH lose business. The existing law creates unnecessary barriers which harm NH residents and businesses. HB301 will allow ATCs to grow medical cannabis in greenhouses, while requiring them to follow the same safety and security requirements as they do for indoor production. HB301 will save energy; improve efficiencies; cut costs for patients and ATCs; support NH residents and businesses; and allow the production of cannabis products with full compliments of healthy cannabinoids, terpenes, and secondary phytonutrients.

This would allow for more cultivation and help ease costs on patients who are already suffering enough