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New Hampshire’s medical marijuana law went into effect in July 2013. Between January and November 2014, officials with the Therapeutic Cannabis Program, under the direction of the state Department of Health and Human Services, drafted and enacted administrative rules governing the medical marijuana registry and the rules governing the treatment centers.
That includes how companies obtain their registration certificate and governs all aspects of their operations. On Dec. 19, 2014, the state put out a request for applications with a Jan. 28 deadline.
“At that point we entered a blackout period,” said John Martin, manager of the Bureau of Licensing and Certification, which oversees the licensing for the Therapeutic Use of Cannabis Program.
“The companies had a single point of contact (with the state) and no one was allowed to have any interaction with the evaluation committee, not even internally,” Martin said.
Martin said this is typical of the state bidding process.
The evaluation committee included Stephen Mosher, executive project manager for DHHS Commissioner’s office; Michael Dumond, administrator in the Health Management Office at DHHS; Katja Fox, assistant superintendent for DHHS Commissioner’s office; Kevin Connor, an emergency communications administrator for the Department of Safety; Lloyd Peterson, associate commissioner in the DHHS Commissioner’s office; Shayne Lynn, the executive director of Champlain Valley Dispensary and Southern Vermont Wellness; and PJ Nadeau, an administrator with the Office of Improvement and Integrity.
Most members of the committee did not respond to a request for comment. Dumond responded, but said he wasn’t at liberty to talk about the process.
InDepthNH asked to speak to someone with first-hand knowledge of the evaluation process and was referred to Martin, who said he wasn’t involved in the process at all. Follow-up requests to DHHS’s public information office went unanswered.
Evaluation committee member Lynn, who agreed to speak, said he was limited as to what he could say because committee members had to sign nondisclosure agreements.
Lynn said the group was tasked with evaluating each application to make sure it included all the mandatory materials then assess the merits of the materials. He lauded the process for being thorough and thoughtful.
The application was divided into categories with a different point value assigned to each. The group was in charge of assigning scores to the information the applicant provided.
Candidates who earned 600 points out of a possible 1,200 in the first round of scoring went on to a second round where evaluation committee member Nadeau analyzed the financial stability of the company.
The companies could receive an additional 300 points for the finances, bringing the total possible points to 1,500.
Five were knocked out of the running, but not White Mountain, which received an initial score of 565 out of 1,200. It moved on to the second round. It is unclear why White Mountain was allowed to go forward with a score lower than 600.
After the second round, the companies’ scores were broken down by the geographic locations they were willing to work in. Out of a possible 1,500 points, Temescal Wellness, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., received scores of 1,156 for Zone 1 and 1,204 for Zone 3.
Prime Alternative Treatment Centers of NH, which lists attorneys Shaheen and Gordon in Concord as its address with the state, received a score of 1,216 for Zone 2. Sanctuary earned a score of 869.5 for Zone 4.
It actually scored slightly higher at 871.5 for Zone 2, but was not awarded that area.