The final report of a state commission that was charged with examining how to legalize cannabis in New Hampshire is now available. This marks the end of months-long meetings in which members were unable to reach an agreement on how to move forward in terms of cannabis policy for New Hampshire.
The new report states that “the Commission ultimately voted to not recommend legislation for 2024 Session.” The Commission failed to reach consensus due to a number of unresolved problems.
The commission’s report submitted by Sen. Daryl Abbas, the chair of the commission, states that the commission “expects legislation will be introduced, but without any recommendation.”
Abbas stated that the group was unable to reach an agreement on a number of issues, including the THC level allowed in legal cannabis products; penalties for public consumption; rules around motor vehicle operation; the creation of a body to approve Liquor Commission rulings and measures to prevent minors from accessing the product, as well as the number of retail stores permitted statewide, and whether home cultivation should be allowed or prohibited.
The Commission to Study With the Goal of Proposing Legalization of State Controlled Sales of Cannabis, and Cannabis Products, conducted an extensive line-by-line analysis of the draft legislation that Abbas submitted in October. His staff stressed this was meant to be a starting place. After weeks of often heated debate between members the body voted to not recommend the bill to legislators.
Abbas reported to the Governor that “the first motion of recommending that draft legislation on which the Commission had worked be introduced in next session was defeated with a vote 5-4”. Chris Sununu, leaders of the House and Senate, and other officials from the state. “A motion to not make a recommendation was then made and passed with a 7-2 vote.”
The panel was initially formed this summer in order to examine state-run cannabis shops. This model is supported by Sununu and would be similar to how the state deals with liquor sales. In September, members began to consider an alternative franchise-style system. Under this system, the state would regulate and oversee the marijuana industry, while private licensees handle the day-to-day sales and cultivation.
Sununu’s list of demands at the last minute was the deciding factor for some members of the committee. The governor stated that he would only support 15 licensed marijuana retail outlets in the state and wanted to include clauses specifying that cannabis business cannot lobby or make political contributions.
Four additional reports were submitted by certain members on behalf of the group. Abbas’s letter states explicitly that the reports reflect the views of those who signed them and not the entire commission.
The “majority” report included in the filings of the commission represents only four out of 19 members. Several members, including Rep. Tim Cahill and Debra Naro (executive director of Communities for Alcohol- and Drug-Free Youth) (CADY), seemed to be in opposition to legalization at commission meetings.
Naro, as an example, called the proposed legalization “the most irresponsible and dangerous legislation I’ve ever been involved in,” while Cahill was openly happy to establish harsh penalties for illicit use.
In its report, the four-member group concluded that the “proposed legislation presented by the Commission does not provide adequate protection for the citizens of NH against the adverse public health and safety effects arising out of the legalization and the commercialization of cannabis or marijuana in NH.”
The four also said that “the majority concluded there is no comprehensive set of safeguards, laws or policies which will adequately protect the current health, safety, and quality of the life of NH if marijuana were legalized.”
The group of four, including John Bryfonski of New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police, and Sen. William Gannon, (R), stated that it “strongly rejected the proposition that legalization was inevitable, but instead cites that the use of harmful controlled drugs is a decision, not an unavoidable conclusion.”
Two bipartisan members of the New Hampshire Senate panel, Sens. Becky Whitley, a Democrat, and Timothy Lang, a Republican disagreed.
I had a chat with @AdamSextonWMUR about why I am in favor of legalization. We will continue to lose out on significant revenues to neighboring states if we don’t legalize cannabis. #NHPoliticshttps://t.co/g6TqKxVAdq
Becky Whitley December 4, 2020 HTML0
Lang, who has “almost…no personal position” on the legalization of marijuana, agrees with Sununu in that a policy shift is inevitable.
“I’m inclined to agree with the Governor.” Lang stated that it was inevitable. Lang said, “Under that condition, it’s inevitable. I want to ensure that we have a strong regulatory environment which will keep the substance away from children and our public.”
Whitley, an elected official who appears to be the most in favor of legalization on the commission, stated that 74 per cent of New Hampshire residents are interested in seeing marijuana legalized. “I think our constituents have an obligation to work toward that,” Whitley said.
Lang and Whitley both doubted that Sununu’s proposed ban against marijuana businesses engaging in lobbying or political advocacy will survive a legal challenge.
Lang said that he understands Sununu’s desire to restrict political activity but was concerned the proposal could raise First Amendment issues.
One of the reports included, by CADY’s Naro, alone, consists 18 pages of “substance abuse prevention guardrails”, such as criminalizing marijuana consumption in public and setting a presumptive level for marijuana impairment at a THC blood level of 2 nanograms per milliliter.
Naro tried to bring up some of these issues during the meetings of the commission, but they were not included in the draft bill that the group had produced.
Frank Knaack, who was the representative of ACLU of New Hampshire on the commission, provided a third report. It opposes increasing fines or criminal sanctions for public cannabis consumption. They say they will “further harms caused by marijuana prohibition, without any evidence supporting the stated claim that public smoking can be curbed.”
Knaack said in meetings of the commission that there was no evidence that harsher penalties would reduce public consumption. Abbas and Cahill, however, argued that people would understand if penalties were severe enough.
The ACLU report recommends that a fund be established to reinvest in those communities who have been disproportionately affected by the drug-war. The fund was recommended by New Futures but was not included in the final draft of legislation from the commission, despite Abbas’s claim that he wanted to include it.
ACLU supported the annulment of past cannabis arrests, convictions, and explicitly stated that the smell alone of marijuana does not constitute probable reason for a search. Abbas said that such a provision is unnecessary because of a precedent set by the state in the alcohol industry, but members of the Commission pushed for the inclusion of this provision into law.
Kimberly Youngren was the representative of the New Hampshire Medical Society on the committee. The report encourages “increased” research on the effects of legalizing adult-use cannabis, as well as the “biologic actions and interactions of the active constituents of cannabis and the development U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved cannabis medicines.”
Although many expect a new push towards legalization, no member of the legislative commission has yet indicated that they will present the draft bill for the body in the next session.
A number of legislative proposals for the session 2024 have already been filed or requested. Among these are measures to allow medical marijuana patients to cultivate cannabis at home and to add eating disorders as a qualifying condition.
A second bill sponsored by Rep. Erica Layon, (R), and eight other lawmakers would legalize cannabis for adults. Other legislators are expected to present competing proposals.
Another Republican-requested Bill, by Rep. Kevin Verville relates to the “use of psychedelics as therapeutic aids.”
According to the law that created the study group for legalization that produced the new report, commissions had been given the task of studying the feasibility and drafting legislation specifically:
- Allows state control over distribution and access
- Keep marijuana out of the schools and away from children
- Controls the marketing of marijuana
- Prohibit “marijuana Miles” or oversaturation in marijuana retail establishments
- Municipalities can choose whether to restrict or prohibit marijuana retail establishments
- Multi-drug abuse is reduced
- Has no additional tax to stay competitive
Rep. John Hunt, a Republican who served as the chairperson of the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee in this year’s session, spent a lot of time working on marijuana reform during the session and tried to find a compromise for legalization by implementing a system with multiple levels, including state-controlled shops and dual licensing, which would allow existing medical cannabis dispensaries to continue operating, and private businesses licensed to individuals privately by state agencies.
Hunt’s House committee, however, came to a deadlock on the complex legislation that was being considered after Sununu made his surprise announcement about his support for state-run legalization. The Senate , however, defeated a more traditional legalization bill, called HB 639, in spite of its bipartisan support.
In May, a separate marijuana legalization bill that was proposed in conjunction with a Medicaid expansion measure was defeated by the House.
The Senate also moved to introduce another piece of legislation in the same month, which would have allowed designated caregivers and patients to grow up to 12 seedlings, 3 immature plants, and three mature plants for their own therapeutic use.
After the Senate rejected reform legislation in 2022 the House included legalization as an amendment to separate criminal-justice-related legislation, but this was also struck down by the opposing chamber.
Photo by Philip Steffan.
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