Measure emerges at 11th hour to legalize pot in NH

May 7—State legislators appear unlikely to legalize marijuana in New Hampshire this year, but one last attempt is being made.

The N.H. House has resurrected a failed effort to permit adults to possess and grow small amounts of cannabis.

Legislation to accomplish this easily passed the House early this year but died in the Senate.

On Thursday, representatives cut wording from that bill, pasted it into another concerning escape from custody, approved the dual-subject legislation and sent it to the Senate, where it will be scheduled for consideration.

Rep. Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, the vice chair of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, authored the amendment that rejiggered Senate Bill 299.

He's not overly optimistic about the amended bill's chances in the Senate, which has been the graveyard for marijuana legalization over the years.

"I'm always hopeful, but I'm also a realist. I can't forecast the tea leaves," Roy said. "I know we've tried numerous attempts at standalone bills, and they've been met with a brick wall in the Senate."

Provisions slipped into SB 299 would remove penalties for possessing less than three-quarters of an ounce of pot.

This bill passed the Senate before the marijuana-related amendment. It would make the crime of escape a felony in more situations than it is now.

"We attached it to one of their bills and are saying, 'We're really serious this time,' " Roy said. "I don't know how many times we've got the majority of 400 people in the House to agree that this is something the people want and to just have the Senate dismiss it out of hand is becoming frustrating.

"It just seems ridiculous that years after it's been legalized everywhere else, all the surrounding states, and we just can't seem to get any traction with it."

Roy said that people who want marijuana already have found a way to get it, and he doesn't think legalization will increase its use.

Currently, there is a $100 citation for possession of less than three-quarters of an ounce of pot or less than five grams of hashish in New Hampshire. It's treated like a minor traffic violation. Possession of greater amounts can lead to a misdemeanor charge with a fine of no more than $350.

SB 299 eliminates the $100 fine. It would also allow home cultivation of up to six cannabis plants, an activity that is not now permitted.

These provisions were in House-passed HB 629, which the Senate rejected, 15-9, on April 28.

"We're in a rush to legalize a substance which has zero benefit to any segment of society, not to adults, not to children," Sen. Bob Giuda, R-Warren, said before that vote.

"This is not a harmless substance."

He said the fact that Canada and the states surrounding New Hampshire have legalized marijuana is no reason to do so here.

Giuda said he's proud, not ashamed, of New Hampshire's outlier status.

He said the drug's impact on traffic safety and public health should trump desires by some to legalize it.

He also said that even though the proposed legalization would be for adults only, it would still lead to more cannabis falling into the hands of young people.

Speaking on behalf of the bill, Sen. Rebecca Whitley, D-Hopkinton, said existing restrictions on marijuana have accomplished nothing.

"New Hampshire has become an island with our overly burdensome regulations of cannabis that are out of sync with what the scientific, the health and social data says and more importantly with what the New Hampshire voters want."

Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said studies show that access to and use of marijuana among young people did not increase in states where it was legalized.

"To say otherwise in 2022, one has to either be woefully ignorant or willfully ignorant," he said.

He pointed to a 2021 study by the Journal of the American Medical Association that found that recreational marijuana laws led to an 8 percent decrease in the odds of marijuana use among high-school students.

Last month, the Senate killed a House-passed bill calling for a marijuana-legalization system that would include state-run cannabis stores.

Rep. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, who wrote an amendment to that bill, said the fact that surrounding states have legalized marijuana likely means New Hampshire will eventually do so as well.

"What form that will take, I'm not sure," he said.

Rick Green can be reached at rgreen@keenesentinel.com or 603-355-8567.