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The fate of a New Hampshire House-passed marijuana legalization bill<\/a> is now in the Senate\u2019s hands. And GOP lawmakers are giving mixed predictions about how it will fare in the chamber ahead of a committee hearing scheduled on the cannabis holiday 4\/20 where members will discuss a wide range of reform proposals.<\/p>\n While a handful of Republican senators are giving advocates hope that the reform could clear the body, which has historically resisted legalization measures advanced by the House, Senate President Jeb Bradley (R) says he\u2019s a no vote and doesn\u2019t expect the legislation to pass when it comes up for consideration in his chamber, which is expected next month.<\/p>\n \u201cI have supported medical marijuana and decriminalization of three-quarters of an ounce of marijuana. I am not going to vote for recreational marijuana,\u201d Bradley told<\/a> The Conway Daily Sun. \u201cI think when all is said and done, it\u2019s not going to be enacted into law.\u201d<\/p>\n But not everyone shares that perspective, and advocates feel there\u2019s enough momentum to advance the measure from bipartisan House leaders, especially with some changes to membership after last year\u2019s election that could tilt the scale.<\/p>\n Sen. Keith Murphy (R), a cosponsor of the legalization bill, is giving the measure a 50-50 chance of passage this session.<\/p>\n \u201cProhibition has proven over and over to be a failed public policy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is especially ineffective when all of our surrounding states have already legalized marijuana possession and use.\u201d<\/p>\n Pete Mulvey, an aide to the freshman senator, told<\/a> The Boston Globe that the issue is \u201cstill up in the air,\u201d and the chances of passage are \u201clikely as good as they have ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n People will likely getting a better sense of the Senate dynamics around the issue next Thursday, April 20. That\u2019s when the Judiciary Committee is scheduled<\/a> to consider several cannabis bills, including the main House passed legalization measure, during a meeting that day.<\/p>\n Members of the panel will also take up separate legalization legislation on the unofficial cannabis holiday, as well as proposals to allow medical cannabis patients to grow their own plants, expand the medical marijuana program and more generally lower criminal penalties for drug-related offenses.<\/p>\n The Senate\u00a0rejected two House-passed reform bills last year<\/a>, including one that would have created a non-commercial cannabis program and another providing for commerce under a state-run model.<\/p>\n Rep. Michael Costable (R) said that he likes the odds of the legislation this time around, saying that while the Senate has been a \u201cdisappointment\u201d in past sessions, he\u2019s \u201coptimistic that this time is different and the Senate will pass this on to the governor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do believe pressure on the Senate and governor from constituents could help nudge them into accepting this excellent legalization bill,\u201d he told The Daily Sun.<\/p>\n HB 639, sponsored by Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R) and Minority Leader Matthew Wilhelm (D), passed the House with more than two-thirds of the vote last week.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what\u00a0HB 639<\/a>\u00a0as amended would accomplish:<\/strong><\/p>\n Adults 21 and older would be able to purchase, possess and gift up to four ounces of cannabis.<\/p>\n The newly renamed Liquor and Cannabis Commission would be responsible for regulating the marijuana market and issuing business licenses.<\/p>\n There would not be any statewide cap on the number of marijuana businesses that could be licensed.<\/p>\n Within 18 months of enactment, the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and commission would need to develop regulations allowing existing medical cannabis dispensaries to apply for dual licenses to start serving adult consumers.<\/p>\n Cannabis would be taxed in the amount of 12.5 percent of of products\u2019 value in their final form at the wholesale level.<\/p>\n After the costs of legalization implementation are covered, $100,000 of revenue would fund data collection and reporting on health impacts of cannabis prohibition and cannabis regulation.<\/p>\n Of remaining funds after that, 50 percent would be disbursed to cities and towns to offset the education tax, 30 percent would be credited to the New Hampshire retirement system to offset its unfunded accrued liability, 10 percent or $25 million (whichever is less) would fund substance use programs, 5 percent would be used to hire and train drug recognition experts and 5 percent would support children\u2019s behavioral health services.<\/p>\n Localities could limit or ban marijuana businesses from operating in their area.<\/p>\n There would be employment protections for state or local government workers who use marijuana off the job. Professional and occupational licenses couldn\u2019t be denied or withdrawn because a person uses cannabis.<\/p>\n Marijuana companies could deduct business expenses from their taxes at the state level.<\/p>\n There are no provisions to allow home cultivation or annul prior cannabis convictions.<\/p>\n \u2014 Last month, the New Hampshire House approved a separate bill to\u00a0allow medical marijuana patients to grow their own plants<\/a>\u00a0for personal use.<\/p>\n The floor vote on home grow came about a week after the House\u00a0approved a second cannabis legalization bill<\/a>\u00a0for the session, one that contains virtually no regulations or limitations on cannabis.<\/p>\n Gov. Chris Sununu (R), who was reelected last year, remains opposed to legalization\u2014but his more recent comments on the issue seem to show a softening of his position. He said during a debate last year that reform \u201ccould be inevitable,\u201d but he added that states need to \u201cbe patient about how you do it.\u201d<\/p>\n After the Senate rejected two reform bills last year, the House included legalization language as an amendment to separate criminal justice-related legislation\u2014but\u00a0that was also struck down in the opposite chamber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Washington State Poised To Enact Psilocybin Bill, But Fate Of Pilot Program Not Certain As End Of Session Nears<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post New Hampshire Senators Split On House-Passed Marijuana Legalization Bill Ahead Of 4\/20 Hearing<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The fate of a New Hampshire House-passed marijuana legalization bill is now in the Senate\u2019s hands. And GOP lawmakers are giving mixed predictions about how it will fare in the chamber ahead of a committee hearing scheduled on the cannabis holiday 4\/20 where members will discuss a wide range ofContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":63833,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63834,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63832\/revisions\/63834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: New Hampshire Senators Split On House-Passed Marijuana Legalization Bill Ahead Of 4\/20 Hearing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"