The New Hampshire Senate ultimate week licensed a invoice to legalize leisure marijuana gross sales, marking the primary time the state’s higher legislative chamber has handed a measure to ascertain a regulated marketplace for adult-use hashish trade. The Senate handed the proposal, HB 1633, six weeks after a unique model of the regulation was once licensed by way of the state Area of Representatives, main Republican Gov. Chris Sununu to promise he would no longer approve the measure with out amendments to limit weed gross sales to state-run pot retail outlets.
The New Hampshire Senate has licensed a invoice to legalize leisure marijuana and authorize … [+]
New Hampshire is the one state in New England that has no longer totally legalized leisure pot. Ownership of as much as three-quarters of an oz of marijuana has been decriminalized, however ownership of bigger quantities of weed remains to be against the law and controlled gross sales of hashish don’t seem to be allowed.
If handed, HB 1633 would legalize the ownership of as much as two oz. of marijuana by way of adults and set the level for felony gross sales of leisure hashish beneath a tightly regulated fashion overseen by way of the New Hampshire Liquor Fee. The Senate model contains provisions sought by way of Sununu to restrict retail pot gross sales to fifteen retail outlets run by way of the state beneath a franchise fashion. The Area model does no longer come with provisions for the franchise fashion, main the governor to mention ultimate month that he would no longer signal the measure.
“Governor Sununu has been crystal transparent concerning the framework wanted for a legalization invoice to earn his toughen, that specialize in hurt relief and retaining it out of youngsters’ palms,” his place of work mentioned in a observation to newshounds after the Area handed the marijuana invoice on April 11, in line with a record from Marijuana Second. “The regulation handed nowadays doesn’t get us there however the Governor appears to be like ahead to operating with the Senate to look if we will be able to get it executed.”
Invoice Now Heads Again To Area Of Representatives
The model of the invoice licensed by way of the Senate additionally contains amendments that make bigger the regulation enforcement powers of the state liquor fee and building up the consequences for some marijuana-related offenses. The invoice now heads again to the New Hampshire Area of Representatives, the place lawmakers can approve the Senate’s adjustments, reject the amended model or ship the measure to a bicameral convention committee to barter a consensus.
Democratic Rep. Anita Burroughs, a key sponsor of the invoice, mentioned the Senate’s amendments will make the regulation unpalatable to many lawmakers who supported the measure within the Area.
“I already know of fifty Democrats who’re going to nonconcur, and I believe that’s the top of the iceberg,” she informed the New Hampshire Bulletin ultimate week.
“I’ve been combating for this for numerous years, and I by no means imagined an afternoon the place I’d vote towards a invoice that I’ve been sponsoring and dealing on,” Burroughs added. “However it’s like a bridge too some distance.”
Advocates for hashish coverage reform are urging lawmakers to achieve a compromise, arguing {that a} now is also the most productive alternative to legalize leisure weed. If the invoice succeeds, New Hampshire will sign up for the 24 states that experience legalized leisure marijuana.
“Whilst the Senate model of HB 1633 has flaws, it could nonetheless constitute vital development” over present regulation, Karen O’Keefe, director of state insurance policies for the hashish coverage reform advocacy staff Marijuana Coverage Venture, informed Marijuana Second. “It might legalize two times as a lot hashish as neighboring Massachusetts and Vermont beginning in January 2026, fighting loads of annual arrests. It might additionally forestall other people from shedding their kids, being denied hospital treatment together with organ transplants, and shedding their skilled licenses for hashish.”
“Gov. Sununu is the primary New Hampshire governor to toughen legalization,” she added, “albeit with many parameters that required a particularly restrictive invoice. He isn’t operating for re-election, and the main candidate for governor, Kelly Ayotte, is a staunch opponent of legalization.”
