New Hampshire lawmakers consider several new cannabis bills as legislative session gets underway – MEDCAN24

This week, lawmakers in New Hampshire held preliminary hearings for a number of cannabis-related legislations, which included proposals to legalize marijuana use by adults, permit home cultivation among medical patients and caregivers, and erase records relating to certain crimes.

The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee examined five bills in this area on Thursday. The hearing was held after a separate one on Wednesday, when the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee heard five more bills.

Both separate plans for legalization that were considered allow personal possession and use, but do not seek to regulate commercial markets.

HB 198 is led by Rep. Jared Sullivan. It would allow for the possession and use of two ounces or cannabis flowers by those 21 years and older.

Sullivan said to the Criminal Justice and Safety Committee that “many people have come to accept cannabis consumption by adults who are responsible, but in New Hampshire it is still illegal.” He said that lawmakers have also repeatedly run into the “stumbling blocks” when it comes to regulating the commercial cannabis industry.

“We want to make it legal and permit reasonable amounts of marijuana possession,” Sullivan stated.

For the first two offences, people who smoke or vape marijuana in public are guilty of an offense. A $100 initial fine would rise to $500 after the second. Third or subsequent violations within five years after the first offense could result in a misdemeanor charge.

Sullivan explained that the provisions are a result of discussions he had with colleagues about concerns they shared regarding public nuisances, secondhand smoking and other issues.

He said that if the bill is passed, later the legislator could return to this issue and address the question of how to regulate retail sales.

Vermont has done the same,” he said. They legalized the practice and then a few year later came up with a regulation framework.

Rep. Heath Howard, a D-representative and cosponsor for the bill acknowledged that this approach was “not my preferred method of legalization.” However, he called it a “basic compromis that preserves public norms but also gives people new liberties they can use in their private properties.”

Matt Simon, the director of government and public relations for the medical marijuana company GraniteLeaf, as well as Jim Riddle of the New Hampshire Cannabis Association spoke out in support of the bill.

Riddle said that the bill didn’t add any bureaucracy to government and wouldn’t increase taxpayer expenses.

Also, he slammed a legalization measure that was considered last year by legislators as “a state-run cannabis-monopoly in Soviet style.” This proposal was to put New Hampshire Liquor Commission, through franchised shops, in charge of the retail sale of marijuana.

Simon said, meanwhile that Sullivan’s simple proposal for legalizing medical marijuana, also known as Alternative Treatment Centers (ATCs) in New Hampshire, would have little effect on existing operators of the drug, which are currently operating within New Hampshire.

The Therapeutic Cannabis Program is not affected by this bill. This bill would have no impact on ATCs. “We support it on principle,” said he.

Simon added, “New Hampshire learned over the past couple of years that legalizing cannabis isn’t a simple yes-or-no question.” Every cannabis legalization law contains dozens of choices of policies, many of them debatable, and some good, others bad. Many bills are derailed because people cannot agree on the dozens of choices.

He warned that if a complicated bill went to the other chamber, there would be “dozens of policy decisions that could derail this other bill.” It’s a simple yes or no answer if this bill is sent to the other chamber. This is an excellent bill both politically and strategically.”

(Disclosure: Simon supports MEDCAN24’s work via a monthly pledge on Patreon.)

Other cannabis-related bills that were heard Thursday by the Committee include:

• Rep. Kevin Verville’s (R) bill HB75 also has a very simple legalization approach. The bill would eliminate penalties for marijuana possession and use, but not establish any licensing or regulatory framework. Under 21s would commit a criminal offense if they were found to be in possession of or using marijuana. Anyone younger than 18 will be subjected to an assessment for addiction disorders. Cannabis use by adults in public is also a crime.
• Rep. Jonah Wheeler’s (D) HB 196 will annul previous arrests and convictions for simple marijuana possession. This would include offenses of possession up to 2 ounces cannabis, 5 grams hashish and/or “an amount that New Hampshire allows adults over 21 to possess” – whichever was higher.
• Howard’s bill HB190 will increase possession limits for patients and their caregivers of medical marijuana to four ounces. This is an improvement from the two-ounce limit currently in place. The existing 10-day limits for patient purchases would be increased from 2 ounces to 4 ounces.
• Rep. Suzanne Vail’s (D) HB 380 would amend penalties for the sale of medical marijuana by people who do not qualify as patients or caregivers.

Wheeler pointed out that, while the state decriminalized the possession of marijuana up to three quarters of an inch in size, it continues to punish people for previous offenses.

He explained that the charges for which the people were jailed are no longer under investigation. “But they’re still unable to get forward in life—which is the point of the criminal justice system, the rehabilitation side of it—because this charge is still on their record.”

Another five bills related to cannabis were heard by the New Hampshire House Health, Human Services and Elder Affairs Committee a day earlier. Perhaps most notably, one—HB 53, from Rep. Wendy Thomas (D)—would allow state-registered patients and caregivers to grow marijuana at home.

Individuals who meet the requirements could cultivate up to 12 seedlings, three plants that are mature, and three plants in their immature stage. In addition, they could have up to 8 ounces usable cannabis from the plants as well as any quantity of non-usable cannabis. The landlords can prohibit the cultivation of cannabis in their rented property.

Thomas told MEDCAN24 in an email that this is the third time during her tenure as a legislator she has introduced legislation on medical cannabis.

She said. “After that—who knows?”

The committee also heard the following cannabis bills:

• HB 205 from Howard would allow veterans to be exempted from paying the $50 state certification fee for medical marijuana.
• Vail’s HB 301 would allow ATCs the ability to set up additional locations for cultivation, including greenhouses. At the moment, all cultivation must take place indoors. Greenhouse cultivation is prohibited.
• Thomas sponsored HB54, which would have allowed ATCs operate as profit-making entities. Under the current law of this state, these ATCs are required to be non-profit.
• Thomas also introduced HB 51 which allows ATCs the purchase of non-intoxicating products such as CBD for medical marijuana. The bill would also remove cannabis seeds from state definitions of medical cannabis.

Thomas tells MEDCAN24 many of these proposals aim to lower prices for both patients and caregivers.

According to her, the hemp legislation, for example “could potentially lower prices and make available more hemp cannabinoid and higher CBD products,”

Thomas explains that the requirement that ATCs be non-profit organizations disqualifies their operators from some funding opportunities, and that they must follow specific regulations for nonprofits that increase costs.

Karen O’Keefe said Marijuana Policy Project’s director of state-level policies supports the majority of reforms that were introduced in the current session. However, the group is primarily focused on the annulment proposal (HB 196) as well as Sullivan’s simple legalization bill HB 198.

She told MEDCAN24 via email that “the House has already passed the majority or all good bills, and I am hopeful it will do so again.”

Simon told MEDCAN24 in an e-mail that he was adamant about the fact The political climate for cannabis is not favorable this year, but supporters are confident many of the bills will pass through the House to reach the Senate.

At this stage, we will be focusing on one state law at a moment and one legislative hearing at a minute, while doing our very best to inform some of the newly elected legislators,” said he.

Many of this session’s initiatives are continuations of past efforts. In the past, legislators passed a law that allowed ATCs to cultivate greenhouses. However, former Governor Chris Sununu vetoed it. Chris Sununu (R), the former governor, vetoed that bill. The lawmakers later failed in their attempt to overturn this veto. In the past, efforts were made to legalize home-grown medical marijuana and allow ATCs for profit. Wheeler, who acknowledged this at Thursday’s public hearing, said that it was the second time he has introduced a bill on annulments in four years.

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MEDCAN24 tracks hundreds of marijuana, psychedelics, and drug policy legislation in state legislatures this year. Patreon subscribers who donate at least $25/month have access to the interactive maps and charts, as well as our hearing calendar.

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The hope of advocates for full-scale legalization has dropped dramatically since the November election. The state’s new governor, Kelly Ayotte (R)—a former U.S. senator and state attorney general—said repeatedly on the campaign trail that she would oppose efforts at adult-use legalization if elected.

Rep. Jason Osborne, the House majority leader who was a former sponsor of legislation legalizing cannabis, stated earlier in the month that it may be many years before New Hampshire makes another attempt at legalizing and regulating the plant.

In an interview with an ABC affiliate in his locality, Osborne stated, “We had the opportunity to move past that issue with the previous governor, but frankly, we missed it.” “I can’t think of us going back to it for at least another decade.”

The lawmaker explained in a subsequent email to MEDCAN24 that while it may not take “a decade” for lawmakers to again consider cannabis legalization legislation, it won’t happen anytime soon.

“‘Decade’ was just what came out of my mouth in the moment,” Osborne said. What I meant was that the governor will continue to be in office and we won’t see marijuana taken more seriously.

New Hampshire legislators nearly passed legislation in the last legislative session which would have allowed and regulated adult marijuana. The Republican-sponsored measure—one that Sununu said he’d support—had bipartisan support in both legislative chambers, but House Democrats narrowly voted to table it at the last minute, taking issue with the proposal’s state-controlled franchise model, which would have given the state unprecedented sway over retail stores and consumer prices.

A poll from last June found that almost two thirds (65 percent) of New Hampshire residents supported legalizing marijuana, while nearly as many (61 percent) said they supported the failed legalization bill, HB 1633.

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Mike Latimer is the photographer.