Attorney General Joseph Foster
CONCORD, N.H. — The state Department of Health and Human Services has issued a conditional registration certificate for the cultivation of therapeutic cannabis to Sanctuary ATC.
Sanctuary ATC’s cultivation center in Rochester is the first to receive DHHS approval to begin cultivating therapeutic cannabis in New Hampshire, according to a DHHS news release.
Attorney General Joseph Foster has refused a right-to-know request filed by InDepthNH.org to release documents related to his decision to issue medical marijuana ID cards to all qualifying patients.
Foster made the decision a month after a judge ordered the state to issue a medical marijuana ID card to Linda Horan of Alstead who is dying from terminal lung cancer.
Horan has since been able to purchase the medical marijuana in Maine because New Hampshire dispensaries are not open yet.
Assistant Attorney General Jill Desrochers said the state turned down InDepthNH.org’s request because the documents contain confidential information and were exempt from disclosure because they involved attorney-client privilege.
“After reviewing the documents, we have determined that the documents contain confidential information and are exempt from disclosure under RSA 91-A:5, IV. Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire v. New Hampshire Local Government Center, 163 N.H. 613, 614 (2012) (Communications protected under the attorney-client privilege fall within the exemption in the Right-to-Know law for confidential information),” Desrochers wrote in the Dec. 22, 2015 letter.
Last month, Horan’s attorney Paul Twomey argued successfully in Merrimack County Superior Court that Horan would suffer irreparable harm if she couldn’t get medical marijuana immediately.
The state Attorney General’s Office had argued that the state couldn’t issue her an ID card until the New Hampshire dispensaries open in the spring.
According to today’s press release, DHHS is implementing the Therapeutic Cannabis Program, which will include four dispensary locations and three cultivation centers.
Once Sanctuary has completed cultivating therapeutic cannabis, DHHS will inspect Sanctuary’s dispensing location in Plymouth to determine if it is ready
to begin operations.
DHHS will then issue a registration certificate without conditions to Sanctuary ATC, permitting Sanctuary to begin dispensing therapeutic cannabis to qualifying patients and designated caregivers who have registered with Sanctuary. The expected timeframe for
Sanctuary’s dispensary to begin operations is spring of 2016.
Applications for potentially qualifying patients and designated caregivers,
medical provider certification, and other important information can be
found on the Therapeutic Cannabis Program page on the DHHS website at
http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/oos/
assist in correctly completing the required applications.