The New Hampshire House of Representatives approved a bill that legalizes marijuana for the second time in this session. It will now be sent to the Senate.
Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R), and Minority Leader Matthew Wilhelm, (D) sponsored the proposal. The chamber voted 272-109 in favor of it. An amendment to add separate legalization language in budget legislation was rejected earlier in the day.
HB 639 is the bill now headed to the Senate. It was approved by the full House in Feb. However, needed to be sent to the Ways & Means Committee. There it was amended last month before being returned to the floor for final passage.
Osborne stated in a press release, that he was “pleased to see New Hampshire make a step towards relieving gangsters, thugs, from control over this market, keeping dangerous, untested products away form consumers, and protecting kids from harmful age-inappropriate goods.”
Wilhelm stated that the New Hampshire House passed HB 639 and sent a clear message that this year is the right time to legalize adult-use cannabis within the Granite State.
From seat 4-20, it’s a YES! https://t.co/lrhSYpIksv pic.twitter.com/bFPQCGEGKk
Dmanda Bouldin, @BouldinAmanda April 6, 2023
He stated that every year, “we fail to legalize cannabis, the state wastes valuable resource and ruins many young and poor Granite Staters’ lives by enforcing failed prohibition.” “New Hampshire is the only New England state that has not legalized cannabis. Our neighbors get more revenue, and our cannabis users benefit from better regulation and testing. New Hampshire must legalize adult possession of small amounts cannabis. This is what we should do.
Rep. Walter Spilsbury (R), stated on the floor before the vote that it was “long past time” to allow legal private enterprise in marijuana and cannabis products to flourish in New Hampshire. However, appropriate regulation and taxation must be applied.
The Ways and Means Committee majority report states that it is difficult to predict tax revenues with confidence. However, members believe they will be “negligible” in the first two years, and then will increase over time.
It states, “Based on the experiences of other states, our prospects for growth are substantial and may rise sharply thereafter. This offers some hope that this new source state revenue can help ease the burden of education financing on real estate taxes.”
Members of the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee had spent several weeks working on the proposal in a series of meetings . They went back and forth regarding a range of provisions and made amendments to the original measure.
Here’s HB639 as modified:
Adults aged 21 or older can purchase, possess, and gift up to 4 ounces of marijuana.
The Liquor and Cannabis Commission, now renamed, would be responsible to regulate the marijuana market and issue business licenses.
There wouldn’t be any state-imposed limit on the number or types of marijuana businesses that can be licensed.
Within 18 months of the law’s enactment, both the state Department of Health and Human Services and its commission will need to create regulations that allow existing medical cannabis dispensaries in order to apply for dual licenses so they can start serving adult customers.
The tax on cannabis would be 12.5 percent of the value of the final form of the products at wholesale level.
After all costs associated with legalization implementation have been covered, $100,000 would be used to fund data collection and reporting about the health effects of cannabis prohibition and regulation.
The remaining funds would be distributed to 50 percent to cities and towns as a tax offset, and 30 percent to the New Hampshire retirement program to pay its unfunded accrued liabilities. 10 percent, $25 million, or less, would fund substance abuse programs. 5 percent would be used for training and hiring drug recognition specialists, and 5 percent to support children’s behavioral healthcare services.
Localities may restrict or ban marijuana businesses operating in their areas.
Workers who use marijuana on the job would have employment protections. A person who uses cannabis can’t get a professional or occupational license.
Companies that grow marijuana could deduct their business expenses from their state taxes.
It is not possible to permit home cultivation of cannabis or to annul previous cannabis convictions.
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Karen O’Keefe (director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project) stated that legalization bills have failed year after year in the Senate. This leaves New Hampshire as the only New England state to not legalize and regulate cannabis for adults. “HB 639 draws on the lessons from 21 states that have legalized cannabis, and it reflects New Hampshire’s priorities and values. This bill is a must-pass for Granite State. It’s time to live up the Granite State’s ‘Live Free’ motto, and end its status as an island under prohibition.
The New Hampshire House passed a separate bill allowing medical marijuana patients to grow their own plants to use for personal purposes.
The House passed a second cannabis legalization bill in the same week. This bill contains almost no restrictions or limitations.
As the House was examining the budget on Thursday, the same representative that sponsored the bill without regulations last month submitted an amendment to include its provisions in the large-scale spending legislation.
Rep. Kevin Verville (R), said, “If we’re spending all these greenbacks now, shouldn’t it send some green back to your constituents?” Isn’t it time that we put in place some common-sense cannabis reform laws in this state? It’s high time we did what our constituents, poll after poll after year, year after years, beg us to do.
He said, “Please help me send some green back our constituents by pressing on the green button.”
However, the amendment was defeated in a vote of 160 to 214.
Advocates still have a lot of work to do, despite optimism regarding the possibility that legalization will finally move in the Granite State this January.
After last year’s election the Republicans retained both the Senate and the House. The Senate is where marijuana reform faced its most difficult obstacles in the past sessions, even though the House has approved numerous legalization bills.
Two House reform bills were rejected by the Senate last year. One would have created a noncommercial cannabis program, while another would have allowed commerce to take place under a state-run model.
There were some shifts in the Senate that supported reform. A Democratic senator opposed to legalization was replaced by a Republican member of the House who voted for ending prohibition in his time as a House Member.
Gov. Gov. He stated that reform was possible, but that it would be difficult for states to implement.
After two reform bills were rejected by the Senate last year, the House added legalization language to separate criminal justice-related legislation. was also defeated in the opposing chamber.
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Photo by Philip Steffan.
The post New Hampshire House Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill for Second Time, Sending it To Senate appeared originally on Marijuana Moment.
