On this date two years ago, Gov. Maggie Hassan signed HB 573, making New Hampshire the last state in New England to approve a medical marijuana law. Unfortunately, so far this law has failed to benefit patients in any way, and it still is not clear when it will finally begin to do so.

Nearly a year ago, I published this commentary on New Hampshire's medical marijuana law at Fosters Daily Democrat. Sadly, very little has changed in the last year, so the following statements remain entirely accurate: "Patients who have been waiting desperately for legal protection have yet to experience any actual compassion from the executive branch."

"The challenges facing patients are compounded dramatically by the fact that New Hampshire still maintains such harsh penalties for simple marijuana possession… the penalty for possessing even a tiny amount of marijuana in New Hampshire is up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2000." "As a result of these delays, today many NH patients are forced to continue using dangerous and addictive drugs such as OxyContin rather than being able to benefit from the use of a safer alternative."

The human consequences of this policy failure have been substantial. Some, including well-known patient-advocate Clayton Holton, have passed away while waiting for the law to take effect. Others, such as Ron Mitchell, have had no choice but to leave their families behind and move to another state in search of relief. Patients received some good news in late May when the Department of Health and Human Services finally selected three applicants to move forward with their plans to operate four dispensaries in the state. However, the state cannot guarantee that these four dispensaries will be able to open and begin serving patients in a timely fashion. And, since the success of the program depends entirely on the success of these three dispensary applicants, patients are still left with more questions than answers with regard to the program's future.

If you're interested in learning more about why this law has not yet fulfilled its purpose, I hope you will take time to read the Marijuana Policy Project's new two-year retrospective on New Hampshire's "Therapeutic Use of Cannabis" program. Titled "Confusion, Delays, and Continued Arrests," it includes the most recent updates, analyzes why the law is not yet effective for patients, and makes recommendations for improving the law and policy moving forward.

Additionally, for those who may continue to doubt the efficacy of cannabis for therapeutic use, I hope you will take time to familiarize yourself with research published last year by the Journal of the American Medical Association, which found that "Medical cannabis laws are associated with significantly lower state-level opioid overdose mortality rates."

It simply makes no sense to continue denying patients legal protection if their medical providers believe they could benefit from using cannabis instead of relying solely on prescription drugs such as OxyContin. But in New Hampshire, that is still exactly what is happening. In one particularly high-profile case, Thomas Orkney, a 58-year-old Navy veteran suffering with a traumatic brain injury, was arrested by Lebanon police and charged with a misdemeanor for possessing less than one-half ounce of cannabis in his apartment. This man was charged with a crime despite the fact that he showed police his medical marijuana certificate from another state and told them he had obtained the cannabis from a state-legal dispensary.