CONCORD — Medical marijuana advocates urged a New Hampshire Senate committee Tuesday to allow residents with crippling ailments to use small amounts of the drug, saying such legislation would show compassion to the severely ill.

CONCORD — Medical marijuana advocates urged a New Hampshire Senate committee Tuesday to allow residents with crippling ailments to use small amounts of the drug, saying such legislation would show compassion to the severely ill.



"What they're asking from us is, 'Please don't treat us as criminals. Treat us as patients,'" said Nashua Rep. Cindy Rosenwald.



Rosenwald, chairwoman of the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee, helped win the bill's passage last month in the House.



Portsmouth Sen. Martha Fuller Clark told her colleagues that passing the legislation would show that lawmakers are empathetic to residents who are suffering in pain.



But critics — mostly law enforcement — blasted the idea as unworkable because it carves out an exception in the criminal statute which will invite abuse and be difficult to regulate.



State Police Maj. Russell Conte said deciding who legally possessed marijuana in the allowable amounts would be difficult to determine at a traffic stop.



"I'm not here to say people who are sick and dying are criminals," he said.



The bill would allow severely ill patients or their caregivers to grow and possess six marijuana plants, six seeds and two ounces of the drug. It requires doctors to certify a patient has a debilitating medical condition and would benefit from the therapeutic or palliative benefit from using marijuana.



Only patients in constant pain, having seizures or severe, persistent muscle spasms or having severe nausea or vomiting and who aren't helped by legal medications for at least three months would qualify for the drug.



Opponents pointed out that growing, possessing and using the drug would still be illegal under other state and federal laws.



"This bill is a stealth drug legalization measure," said Assistant Attorney General Karin Eckel.



Lancaster Rep. Evalyn Merrick, a Democrat and the lead sponsor, acknowledged that patients would have no legal way to buy marijuana under terms of the bill. She said they would have to get the drug from other patients, family members or dealers until the state opted to regulate distribution.



Merrick said she has multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, and used marijuana to quell queasiness from chemotherapy in 2002.



Thirteen states now allow medical marijuana use.



Federal drug agents have raided dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries, mainly in California. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said that the Obama administration would end such raids.



"Simply allowing patients to grow a few plants in their closets is not going to invoke the wrath of the federal government," said Matt Simon, executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy.



The Senate could vote on the bill before the end of the month. Gov. John Lynch has only said he has concerns about it.