The New Hampshire House has once again signed off on a proposal to legalize adult-use cannabis.
Lawmakers approved House Bill 639 on April 6 in a 272-109 vote, sending the legislation to the Senate for consideration.
The bill would legalize the possession, purchase, use, gift and transport of cannabis for adults 21 and older.
The bipartisan legislation is co-sponsored in the House by Republican Rep. Jason Osborne and Democratic Rep. Matt Wilhelm.
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“I am pleased to see New Hampshire take a step toward relieving gangsters and thugs from control of this market, keeping dangerous untested products away from consumers, and protecting children from harmful age-inappropriate products,” Osborne said in a public statement.
While the House has repeatedly approved adult-use legalization measures—most recently passing a bill in March 2022 to allow state-run liquor stores to sell cannabis—the Senate has voted down these proposals.
“With the decisive passage of H.B. 639, the New Hampshire House has sent a strong message that this is the year to legalize adult-use cannabis in the Granite State,” Wilhelm said in a public statement. “Every year we fail to legalize marijuana, the state wastes valuable resources and ruins the lives of many young and poor Granite Staters by enforcing failed prohibition. New Hampshire remains the only state in New England that has failed to legalize cannabis, while our neighbors benefit from increased revenue and their cannabis users benefit from safer testing and regulation of the product. Legalization of adult possession of small amounts of cannabis is the right thing to do for New Hampshire and we must get it done in 2023.”
H.B. 639 will be supported by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Senate, the Marijuana Policy Project reported, including Republican Sen. Keith Murphy and Democratic Sens. Becky Whitley and Donovan Fenton.
“There’s momentum behind marijuana legalization this year, Granite Staters want this to happen and it’s time that lawmakers come together and listen to our constituents,” Whitley said in a public statement. “H.B. 639 would stop the cycle of harm caused by enforcing marijuana prohibition from the day that it’s signed. With such far-reaching, positive impact at stake, there’s no time to wait.”
The legislation would establish a commission charged with testing and regulating adult-use cannabis, according to the New Hampshire Bulletin.
The bill also allows local municipalities to enact ordinances to regulate or ban adult-use cannabis sales, the news outlet reported, and would levy a retail sales tax of 12.5% of the wholesale price of cannabis.
Lawmakers in support of H.B. 639 said the legislation would help New Hampshire realize the economic benefits of adult-use cannabis legalization that have been seen in neighboring New England states with adult-use programs, according to the New Hampshire Bulletin. They added that legalization would help diminish the illicit market and in turn improve the overall quality of cannabis products available to consumers.
H.B. 639 also includes a proposal to annul all past cannabis-related guilty verdicts dished out in criminal court, the news outlet reported.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has been dubious of adult-use legalization and has argued that the state should hold off on a broader cannabis program due to the opioid crisis, according to the New Hampshire Bulletin. Thursday’s Senate vote is short of the two-thirds majority required to override a potential gubernatorial veto, the news outlet reported.
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