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.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro this week called on state lawmakers to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana, saying “It’s time to catch up” with neighboring states that have already taken the step. The governor made his plea on Tuesday during an annual budget address to unveil a $48.3 billion spending plan for the state.

“I ask you to come together and send to my desk a bill that legalizes marijuana,” Shapiro told state lawmakers in his address. “But that bill should ensure the industry is regulated and taxed responsibly.”

Although the Democratic governor’s budget proposal does not include a specific cannabis legalization plan, it does call on lawmakers to pass a 20% tax on recreational marijuana. The proposal assumes a January 2025 start date for adult-use cannabis sales and estimates that the state would bring in $14.8 million in tax revenue during the first year. Shapiro added that he expects Pennsylvania’s taxes on recreational marijuana to increase to approximately $250 million per year once the regulated industry is firmly established.

“We’re losing out on an industry that, once fully implemented, would bring in more than $250 million in annual revenue,” Shapiro said. “And our failure to legalize and regulate this only fuels the black market and drains much-needed resources for law enforcement. It’s time to catch up.”

In a written explanation of the $48.3 billion state budget, Shapiro administration officials wrote that some tax revenue from the regulated adult-use cannabis industry should be used for “restorative justice initiatives” to address decades of inequities in the enforcement of marijuana prohibition laws. Among the initiatives, the governor specifically called on lawmakers to pass legislation to expunge the records of those convicted of possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Additional funds from the state’s adult-use cannabis program would go to the Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania State Police. The remaining revenue would be directed to the state’s general fund.

Most Pennsylvania Voters Support Legalizing Weed

In his address, the governor noted that legalizing adult-use cannabis is supported by a majority of Pennsylvania voters and that five out of six of the Keystone State’s neighbors have already ended the prohibition of marijuana for adults.

“Last year, 57 percent of voters in Ohio supported an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana,” Shapiro said. “And now, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland – practically all of our neighbors – have legalized marijuana.”

Ben Kovler, Founder, CEO and chairman at Green Thumb Industries, a multistate cannabis company that operates 18 RISE medical marijuana dispensaries in Pennsylvania, praised Shapiro’s plan to legalize adult-use cannabis.

“We applaud Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for prioritizing adult-use cannabis legalization this year, including a clear, definitive launch date for sales. This call for change signals continued progress in the Northeast toward ending Prohibition 2.0 and the devastating impact it has inflicted on communities,” Kovler said in a statement to High Times. “The team at Green Thumb is ready to support the people of Pennsylvania on their journey to well-being by providing access to safe, high-quality cannabis.”

Pennsylvania legalized the medicinal use of cannabis in 2016 with the passage of the Medical Marijuana Act. Under the state program, patients with one or more specified serious medical conditions are allowed to purchase and use medical marijuana. Qualifying conditions for the use of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania include cancer, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, terminal illness and others.

A total of 134 licensed medical marijuana dispensaries were in operation as of last year, according to state data. Since the program’s inception, more than 1.3 million patients have been certified as medical marijuana patients in Pennsylvania, Spotlight PA reported in December.

Legalizing recreational marijuana is popular with some lawmakers in Pennsylvania, especially among Democrats. In December, Democratic Senator Sharif Street and Senator Camera Bartolotta, a Republican, introduced bipartisan legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis.

Getting the bill through the Pennsylvania Senate, however, may prove difficult. Senator Kim Ward, the Senate majority leader, has said she will not support the legalization of recreational marijuana until the federal government ends cannabis prohibition, according to a report from PA Spotlight.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine last week called on state lawmakers to pass legislation to ban hemp products with psychotropic cannabinoids such as delta-8 THC, saying that the intoxicating products pose a risk to children. The legislature reconvenes this month, with lawmakers already planning to consider new legislation to regulate recreational marijuana, which was legalized by the state’s voters in November. 

The House of Representatives is expected to return to the Ohio Statehouse on Wednesday, two weeks earlier than planned. The Senate will also return to session later this month, with cannabis regulation one of the top priorities for the state’s lawmakers.

Ohio voters legalized recreational marijuana with the passage of Question 2 in the 2023 off-year election. The initiative legalizes cannabis for use by adults and sets the stage for regulated sales of recreational marijuana.

The legislature’s Republican majority is planning to pass legislation to more closely regulate adult-use cannabis in the state. And at a press conference on January 3, the Republican governor called on lawmakers to pass legislation banning intoxicating hemp products including delta-8 THC and hemp-derived delta-9 THC, the cannabinoid largely responsible for the “high” experienced when smoking marijuana. 

“It is intoxicating, it is something that needs to be banned, and again, the legislature could ban it,” DeWine said in a statement cited by local media. “These hemp products can be sold anywhere in the state of Ohio, and we have no jurisdiction, we have no laws to prohibit that, we can do absolutely nothing.”

DeWine and GOP leaders in the legislature had originally hoped to pass a bill restricting some provisions of Question 2 before the initiative went into effect on December 7. After failing to reach a consensus, however, lawmakers delayed work on the legislation until the new legislative session. 

House Reconvenes This Week

The House is returning early to attempt to override DeWine’s veto of a bill limiting gender-affirming healthcare for children. In his remarks last week, the governor said the early return would allow lawmakers to revisit cannabis regulation, noting that he is concerned the lack of regulation will encourage unregulated marijuana sales. 

“I will just say that since the house is coming back next week, this might be a good time to take up and deal again, something they did not do, which is to deal with the marijuana issue,” said DeWine. “We still have a situation in Ohio every single day where people can use marijuana, they can possess marijuana, they can even plant marijuana, grow it, but they can’t buy the seeds, legally they can’t buy marijuana.”

The governor added that if the House is unable to pass legislation to regulate marijuana, he hopes that lawmakers will shift their focus to regulating intoxicating hemp products.

“At the very least, if they can’t do that, I would hope they can deal with something that is very real across the state of Ohio and that is intoxicating hemp,” said DeWine. “I can take you, if you drive from here to the governor’s residence, we can take you to a place right there where kids, 12, 13, 14, any age can walk in and buy it.”

Republican Senator Huffman is currently working on a bill to regulate intoxicating hemp products that is based on language contained in the state Senate’s proposal to regulate marijuana. Huffman said he wants to ensure that the legislation is balanced with concerns from the state’s hemp retailers, who say that a bill that is too restrictive could harm the industry. 

“There are some really good CBD products out there, but there’s others that are manufactured in a way that are intoxicating and not safe,” Huffman said in an interview with Statehouse News Bureau, noting that language in a state budget proposal to regulate delta-8 THC and delta-9 THC was removed from the proposal last summer.

In his comments last week, DeWine acknowledged Huffman’s efforts, noting that it might take a separate hemp cannabinoid regulation bill to pass muster with lawmakers in the state House of Representatives.

“I know that the House has said they don’t want to take up marijuana in the same bill that they do intoxicating hemp,” said DeWine. “So, what Senator Huffman has started to do, and I just want to congratulate him and thank him for that, he is now drafting a separate bill.”

The governor emphasized that state lawmakers should move quickly on regulating hemp cannabinoids in the interest of protecting children in Ohio.

“If we want to talk about protecting kids, dealing with intoxicating hemp is something we need to deal with,” the governor said.

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