The New Hampshire House of Representatives voted last week to approve a bill to legalize recreational marijuana, marking the second time the chamber has passed the legislation. Members of the House voted 239-136 on Thursday to pass the measure, House Bill 1633 (HB1633), which would legalize pot for adults and set the stage for tightly regulated cannabis sales.

Bills with financial elements must be passed twice under New Hampshire state law. The first time the marijuana legalization measure was up for a vote in February, the chamber advanced the bill by a vote of 239-14. The bill was then sent to the House Financial Committee so the panel could consider the financial elements of the proposal.

On April 2, the Financial Committee voted 19-6 to recommend passage of a revised version of the legislation. Democratic Representative Chuck Grassie wrote a statement in support of the bill.

“The legalization of cannabis will move production and sales from the underground, sometimes dangerous, illicit market to legal businesses, allowing for appropriate regulations and control,” he said at the time, the Concord Monitor reported.

Before the vote on Thursday, Republican state Representative Erica Layon, the sponsor of the measure, called on her colleagues in the House to pass the bill. She argued that many people in New Hampshire already have access to marijuana, either by growing their own, purchasing it in other states, or buying weed from the unregulated market. New Hampshire is an outlier in New England, being the only state in the region that has not yet legalized cannabis for adults.

“What this bill would change is that you could have regulated, tested products that are free of contaminants and are not mixed with other drugs,” Layon said, according to a separate report from the Concord Monitor.

Bill Permits 15 Pot Shops Statewide

If passed by the state Senate and signed into law by Republican Governor Chris Sununu, the bill would legalize marijuana for adults aged 21 and older, who would be permitted to possess up to four ounces of weed. The measure also legalizes the commercial production and sale of cannabis products under a tightly regulated model overseen by the New Hampshire Liquor Commission. The bill only allows for 15 retail cannabis dispensaries to operate statewide to serve a population of nearly 1.4 million people.

Opponents of the bill argued that marijuana legalization would harm young people, pose a safety risk on the state’s roadways and would not reduce unregulated sales of weed. Supporters of the arguments countered that such outcomes have not been documented in states that have legalized recreational weed.

Republican Representative Kenneth Weyler encouraged his fellow representatives to vote “no” on the bill, saying that other states that have legalized cannabis have had public safety issues after the reforms were enacted.

“We now have the examples of many other states that have legalized this substance over the past few years,” he said. “Have any of them bragged about how much money they made? Have any of them seen a reduction in petty crime?”

Bill Now Heads to State Senate

Following its passage in the House last week, HB 1633 now heads to the New Hampshire Senate for consideration by a legislative committee and the full body. If the Senate passes the bill, it will head to Sununu for consideration. 

After years of opposition to legalizing recreational weed, the governor said last year he would sign a bill that does so in a tightly controlled manner. However, the legislation does not fulfill the conditions he set at the time, including a proposal that would only allow cannabis sales at state-run dispensaries. If Sununu gets the bill, he will have the option of vetoing the legislation or signing it into law.

Cannabis policy advocates hailed the House’s passage of the recreational marijuana bill by lawmakers in the Granite State. Jen Flanagan, director of regulatory policy for cannabis and psychedelics law firm Vicente LLP, said she gives “the New Hampshire House of Representatives a lot of credit for their hard work in passing the adult-use cannabis legalization legislation.”

“As with every other state that has legalized cannabis, New Hampshire must work out the details that work for their state and I hope the Senate takes this opportunity to see that safe and legal products are best for the public health and public safety of communities,” Flanagan wrote in an email to High Times.

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The New Hampshire House of Representatives last week approved a bill to legalize recreational marijuana as lawmakers revisit the issue of cannabis policy reform for the Granite State. The measure, House Bill 1633 (HB1633), was passed by the full House on Thursday by a vote of 239-14, although legislators who back cannabis legalization efforts offered only lukewarm support for the legislation.

Before being approved in the House, the bill was amended by the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee. Republican state Representative Erica Layon, the sponsor of the bill, said that changes to the measure were made to satisfy the concerns of some lawmakers in the Senate.

“It’s a compromise,” Republican state Representative Erica Layon said in a statement to local media. “Every single person in a seat here can find a reason to vote against the amendment and vote against the bill. But the question is, do we have a net benefit to the state by passing this? I believe we do.”

If passed, the legislation would legalize cannabis for adults aged 21 and older, who would be permitted to possess up to four ounces of marijuana. The measure also legalizes the commercial production and sale of cannabis products under a tightly regulated model. The bill only allows for 15 retail cannabis dispensaries to operate in the state, which would be overseen by the New Hampshire Liquor Commission. 

Bill Fails To Meet Governor’s Conditions

Although the bill represents a relatively tightly regulated model for cannabis legalization, the legislation does not meet the requirements set by Republican Governor Chris Sununu for a recreational weed bill. After years of opposition to marijuana policy reform, he said last year that would support a bill that legalized adult-use pot in a tightly controlled manner.

Among the conditions that are included in the legislation are a cap on marijuana retailers and a ban on cannabis advertising. But the bill does not include the governor’s call for state-run dispensaries and a ban on lobbying by cannabis businesses, provisions that Layon said would expose the state to legal liabilities.

The amended bill also does not satisfy some proponents of cannabis policy reform. Democratic Representative Jonah Wheeler, a lawmaker who supports broader marijuana legalization, urged his colleagues to vote against the amended measure.

“This amendment will satisfy the hunger that we all feel – many of us feel – for legalization,” said state Representative Jonah Wheeler. “But it is a bologna sandwich that will leave us satisfied, but in a few hours, we will be hungry again because there was no nutrition there.”

Democratic state Representative Heath Howard noted that HB1633 has stiffer penalties for public consumption of cannabis.

“This bill not only keeps the current misdemeanor charges for people smoking in public, but it also increases the second-violation fines,” said Democratic state Representative Heath Howard.

Despite the tight regulations, some conservative lawmakers believe that the legalization bill advanced by the New Hampshire House goes too far.

“This bill does not reach the level of guardrails that we were looking for,” said Republican state Representative Tim Cahill.

But proponents of the legislation say they have attempted to build consensus among groups that have previously opposed efforts to legalize marijuana in New Hampshire.

“What we have tried to do this time is include industry, government, law enforcement– basically folks that have been traditionally prohibitionists, and I think there has been more listening and more consensus-building than ever before,” Tim Egan of the New Hampshire Cannabis Trade Association said in a statement.

HB 1633 has been referred to the House Finance Committee for consideration. If the committee approves the legislation, it will head back to the floor for another vote by the full House before being sent to the New Hampshire state Senate.

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New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu last week signed legislation to create a commission to study legalizing recreational marijuana via a plan that restricts adult-use cannabis sales to state-run retailers.

Previously opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana, Sununu changed his position earlier this year after an adult-use cannabis legalization bill failed in the New Hampshire Senate after receiving approval from the state House of Representatives. 

“Knowing that a majority of our residents support legalization, it is reasonable to assume change is inevitable. To ignore this reality would be shortsighted and harmful,” Sununu wrote in a statement in May. “That is why, with the right policy and framework in place, I stand ready to sign a legalization bill that puts the State of NH in the driver’s seat, focusing on harm reduction  —  not profits. Similar to our Liquor sales, this path helps to keep substances away from kids by ensuring the State of New Hampshire retains control of marketing, sales, and distribution  —  eliminating any need for additional taxes.”

Sununu said that he would sign a recreational marijuana legalization bill if it included provisions to make state-run shops the only retail outlets for adult-use cannabis purchases. New Hampshire uses a similar system for spirits sales, with the state’s 67 Liquor and Wine Outlet stores being the sole retailer of hard alcohol in the state. The governor added that he would not approve an adult-use cannabis legalization bill that did not include such a state-run model for retail sales of recreational weed.

“I am supportive of legalizing marijuana in the right way – with this legislature – rather than risk a poorly thought out framework that inevitably could pass under future governors or legislatures,” Sununu said. “Should the legislature pass future legalization bills without these provisions in place, they will be vetoed.”

New Commission Will Study Cannabis Legalization

The measure passed last week, House Bill 611, establishes a commission to study legalizing recreational marijuana in New Hampshire. The legislation tasks the study commission with examining a number of issues and policy proposals, including how the state should approach cannabis sales and marketing, keeping marijuana products away from young people and preventing oversaturation of weed shops in local communities. The commission will also explore ways to allow local governments to ban or limit state-run cannabis retailers in their jurisdictions.

The new commission will meet through the summer and fall months to study and develop a model that allows the state to control the distribution and sales of adult-use cannabis. The commission’s findings and recommendations must be submitted in a report by December 1.

New Hampshire’s 18-member cannabis legalization study commission will include five senators, five members of the House of Representatives and representatives of the Attorney General’s Office, the Governor’s Office, the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police, the New Hampshire Bankers Association, the New Hampshire Liquor Commission, the American Civil Liberties Union, the New Hampshire Medical Society and Communities for Alcohol and Drug-Free Youth. Additionally, the commission will be required to consult with the state’s Alternative Treatment Centers, which currently dispense therapeutic medical marijuana in the state, and the New Hampshire Cannabis Association, an industry group that has advocated for legalization.

If the commission succeeds and is able to submit recommendations that result in a successful cannabis legalization bill, New Hampshire, the only state in New England that has not legalized recreational marijuana, will join the 23 states that have legalized marijuana for adult use. Democratic state Representative Wendy Thomas, a sponsor of House Bill 611 and a medical marijuana patient, said that she hopes to be appointed to the state’s cannabis legalization commission. 

“All of the states who have legalized cannabis are getting all of our money,” Thomas told New Hampshire Public Radio on Wednesday. “We’re just throwing money away that could help our state.”

In order to be approved by Sununu, the commission’s recommendations will have to be developed into a bill that can be passed by the legislature during the 2024 legislative session. Sununu has said he will not run for re-election in 2024, making next year the last opportunity for the governor to sign a legalization bill into law. 

Critics of Sununu’s plan say it will establish a state-run monopoly on cannabis sales that restricts the power of growers to set their own prices. Others say the state-run approach limits opportunities for members of communities disproportionately impacted by decades of cannabis prohibition.

House Bill 611 also includes provisions to ease restrictions on the use of medical marijuana, which was legalized in New Hampshire in 2013, by patients with chronic pain. Under the previous regulations, patients could only receive a recommendation to use medical cannabis for chronic pain if they had first tried other options without success. The new law eliminates that restriction, effective on October 8, and allows patients to receive a medical marijuana recommendation without trying other, potentially more dangerous, options such as opioids.

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