New Hampshire Committee Weighs Proposal To Legalize And Regulate Marijuana For Adults

A New Hampshire House committee this week held a hearing on one three competing proposals to legalize adult-use marijuana in the state following last year’s failure by supporters to push similar proposals past the finish line.

The House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee on Thursday considered HB 186, from Rep. Jared Sullivan (D), which would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to two ounces of marijuana flower and 10 grams of concentrate, as well as grow up to six cannabis plants at home for personal use.

It would also license a commercial cannabis market, allowing consumers to buy labeled, lab-tested products from state-regulated storefronts.

The bill is one of two legalization proposals Sullivan has introduced for the current legislative session. The other, HB 198, would legalize personal possession and home cultivation of cannabis but would not allow legal sales.

“First and foremost, I think it’s ridiculous we continue to arrest people in New Hampshire for possession of cannabis,” he told the committee, “and I think that needs to stop.”

The bill considered at Thursday’s hearing is based largely on a measure that lawmakers came close to passing last session but was ultimately tabled by House Democrats, some of whom raised issues with the proposal’s state-run franchise model.

Among the main differences, Sullivan explained, is that the new bill would impose a reduced tax rate, using the state’s room and meals tax rather than create a new industry-specific tax. It would also establish an independent cannabis commission to promulgate rules and oversee the new market, while last year’s bill would put New Hampshire’s Liquor Commission in charge.

“While it’s a bill to legalize and regulate at some level, there’s going to be a lot of rulemaking required to get into the nitty gritty that isn’t able to be done in this bill,” he told colleagues. “And this commission will be the ones that do that.”

The committee heard public testimony but did not take action on HB 186. Rep. John Hunt (R), chair of the panel, said the measure will next be referred to a liquor subcommittee.

One member of the committee, Rep. Merryl Gibbs (D), complimented the revised proposal.

“I think this bill is an improvement on the previous bill from the last session,” she said, “both in the creation of a cannabis commission and in the way the bill bases the cannabis tax on the rooms and meals tax.”

Co-sponsor Rep. Heath Howard (D) also spoke in favor of the bill.

“We’ve been seeing huge revenue declines, and this is a great way that we can help kind of climb out of that hole without introducing new tax burdens onto our public,” he said. “It also gives people more liberties.”

Howard said he believes it’s important not only to allow adults legal possession of marijuana but also provide a way to access products legally.

Also speaking in favor of the bill was former Republican Rep. Joe Hannon, a doctor who served on a state opioid task force. He pointed out that without a legal way to access marijuana, adults are driving to neighboring states to purchase legal marijuana, then bringing it back across the border to New Hampshire.

The only testimony against the legalization proposal at Thursday’s hearing came from the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police.

Last week, meanwhile, lawmakers heard testimony on two other, simpler legalization plans, as well as a handful of other cannabis-related bills.

“Many people in our society have grown to accept the consumption of cannabis by responsible adults, but it remains illegal in New Hampshire,” Sullivan said of his bill, HB 198. At the same time, he said, lawmakers in the state have repeatedly tripped over the “stumbling block” of how to regulate a commercial cannabis industry.

“The goal of this is simply to legalize this and allow for reasonable quantities of possession,” the lawmaker said, adding that if it becomes law, the legislature could later return to the issue to address how to regulate possible retail sales.

“Vermont did the same thing,” he pointed out. “They actually legalized it, and a few years later, came back with a regulatory framework.”

A Republican-sponsored alternative—HB 75, from Rep. Kevin Verville—also calls for a simple approach to legalization. It would remove penalties around the use and possession of marijuana but would not establish a licensed commercial market or broader regulatory scheme.

As for full legalization, hope among advocates has fallen sharply following last November’s 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 (R), the House majority leader and a prior sponsor of legislation to legalize cannabis, said earlier this month that the situation means it could be years before New Hampshire has another realistic attempt to legalize and regulate the plant.

“We had an opportunity with the last governor to put that issue behind us, and frankly, we blew it,” Osborne said in an interview with a local ABC affiliate. “So I don’t imagine us coming back to that for another decade, probably.”

In a later email to Marijuana Moment, the lawmaker clarified that it might not be “a decade” before lawmakers again take up cannabis legalization, but it also won’t be anytime soon.

“‘Decade’ was just what came out of my mouth in the moment,” Osborne said. “What I mean is that we will not see broad marijuana legalization taken seriously as long as the current governor is in office.”

New Hampshire lawmakers nearly passed legislation last session that would have legalized and regulated marijuana for adults. 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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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

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