By Emily S. Moore | The Center Square

A bill passed the New Hampshire Senate that allows qualified patients and designated caregivers to grow up to three marijuana plants at a time.

The bill, SB 420, comes at a time when patients approved for medical use are having trouble getting cannabis.

“This bill will give patients and their caregivers the ability to grow their own medicine at greatly reduced cost compared to the prohibitive costs that they would have had to pay at a dispensary, which might not even have the type of medical cannabis that patients needs to treat their conditions,” said Tom Sherman, a Democrat from Rye in an interview with New Hampshire Public Radio.

However, a similar bill passed through the House and Senate last year that was vetoed by Gov. Chris Sununu. The House overruled the veto, but the Senate was short three votes.

This new bill, SB 420, allows patients and caregivers to cultivate and grow up to three mature plants, three immature plants and 12 seedlings.

“This bill presents Gov. Sununu with a great opportunity to continue his evolution on cannabis policy,” Matt Simon, New England political director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a news release. “Patients all over New Hampshire are benefitting from cannabis as an alternative to opioids, but many are unable to afford the expensive products that are available at dispensaries.”

The New Hampshire House passed a bill in January that expands the scope of patients that can be approved for cannabis use to include insomnia and opioid use disorder.