A New Hampshire commission charged with drafting legislation to legalize marijuana through a system of state-controlled stores decided at its final meeting on Monday not to issue recommendations at all. The conclusion leaves open questions about how lawmakers will proceed with cannabis reform in the coming 2024 session.<\/p>\n
After months of meetings, the 19-member panel ultimately failed to reach consensus on the issue. Adding to the disarray was a last-minute demand by Gov. Chris Sununu (R)\u2014who has threatened to veto legislation that he disagrees with\u2014that retail storefronts be limited to just 15 statewide and that marijuana businesses be barred from lobbying or making political contributions.<\/p>\n
One member of the group, Sen. Becky Whitley (D), seemed to blame Sununu for the anticlimactic result.<\/p>\n
\nYet again, @GovChrisSununu<\/a> swoops in at the 11th hour to stymie our work on legalization. The vast majority of Granite Staters support legalization and it’s past time we had a Governor who listens to the will of the people. #NHPolitics<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/bPa4KZLeGX<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Becky Whitley (@BeckyWhitleyNH) November 28, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
But while the governor\u2019s new demands may have been the breaking point, the commission\u2019s progress for the past several weeks has been marked by frustration and infighting among members<\/a>, some of whom opposed legalization altogether.<\/p>\n
At the commission\u2019s previous meeting<\/a> this month, for example, one member said the emerging proposal was \u201cthe most irresponsible, dangerous legislation that I have ever participated in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panel was initially\u00a0formed this summer to consider state-run cannabis stores<\/a>, a model supported by Sununu that would mirror how the state handles liquor sales. But in September, members turned to consideration of an alternative, franchise-style system<\/a>, under which the state would regulate the marijuana industry and oversee its look and feel while private licensees would handle cultivation and day-to-day retail sales.<\/p>\n
The bulk of the commission\u2019s recent meetings have been dedicated to a line-by-line review of draft legislation circulated by the committee chair, Sen. Daryl Abbas (R), which is dated October 2. Abbas\u2019s staff initially described the bill as \u201cextremely fluid\u201d and intended only as a beginning reference point.<\/p>\n
After hours of meandering, sometimes standoffish discussions, members were still at odds on numerous issues, including penalties for public consumption of marijuana and how to fold the state\u2019s existing medical marijuana dispensaries, known as alternative treatment centers (ATCs), into the new regulatory system.<\/p>\n
Abbas incorporated his notes from the commission meetings into a revised draft, which his staff aimed to have available last week but didn\u2019t actually circulate until the beginning of Monday\u2019s final commission meeting. Some members said they weren\u2019t sure why certain revisions were made, while others noted that planned additions left out of the revised bill.<\/p>\n
\nMonday\u2019s panel vote against issuing recommendations doesn\u2019t necessarily kill legalization efforts in New Hampshire, but many observers see it as a bad sign of the proposal\u2019s chances in the legislature. The state is the only jurisdiction in New England where marijuana remains illegal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still possible that a legalization bill will pass in 2024, but the odds definitely seem lower after today\u2019s meeting,\u201d said Matt Simon, the director of public and government relations at medical marijuana provider GraniteLeaf Cannabis. \u201cThe future of cannabis policy in New Hampshire is clear as mud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simon, who attended virtually all of the commission meetings as an observer and guest speaker, said the group\u2019s winding process was partly to blame for its failure to issue recommendations.<\/p>\n
\u201cA study commission usually begins by evaluating its goals, identifying some of the key policy decisions that will need to be made, scheduling relevant expert testimony and forming a plan to study the issues,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, this study commission spent the majority of its meetings wading through a first draft of the legislation. I can\u2019t help but think that much of that time would have been better spent hearing from policy experts and learning more about the experiences of other states so they could make informed decisions for New Hampshire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately Simon said he still expected a franchise-based model to be filed in New Hampshire\u2019s legislature next year, but he predicted that \u201cit will have less steam behind it after this experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
That means less certainty for both ATCs and their patients, he told Marijuana Moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur primary goal was to ensure that the Therapeutic Cannabis Program and the ATCs would have a clear path forward,\u201d he said, \u201cand that patients wouldn\u2019t be left behind in the transition to adult-use cannabis. Unfortunately, the draft bill presented today did not meet that basic standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Disclosure: Simon supports Marijuana Moment\u2019s work via a\u00a0monthly Patreon pledge<\/a>.)<\/p>\n
Another advocate, Timothy Egan, chair of the board of advisors for the New Hampshire Cannabis Association (NHCANN), said he wasn\u2019t surprised by the commission\u2019s failure to reach a consensus. \u201cThis was not structured to reach an amenable conclusion,\u201d he said of the committee process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis commission was filled with prohibitionists, which is counterintuitive when trying to study the feasibility of an industry, as they already don\u2019t think it feasible before even reaching the table,\u201d Egan, who previously served as a state representative, added, noting the panel had ignored NHCANN\u2019s list of recommended experts that should testify, which included regulators from Vermont and Maine. The commission also \u201crefused to honor the bill\u2019s requirements to have NHCANN be called to testify,\u201d referring to the law that created the commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n
On top of the panel\u2019s makeup and failure to consult regulators from other states, Egan said that Sununu\u2019s \u201clast minute rug pulling was annoying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c15 stores stores only!?!\u201d he told Marijuana Moment in an email. \u201cThat it will be easier for one [multi-state operator] company to come in and own the market, set wage standards and set prices. Where is the small business spirit being recognized?\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Sununu\u2019s requested anti-lobbying provisions, Egan called it \u201ca joke,\u201d noting that other regulated industries\u2014including alcohol, tobacco, sports betting and charitable gaming\u2014all engage in lobbying in New Hampshire.<\/p>\n
Sununu said earlier this month that he believes legalization in the Granite State is \u201cinevitable,\u201d<\/a> although he\u2019s also \u201cnot a huge believer\u201d in the idea. Ultimately, the commission\u2019s decision to not issue recommendations may free the governor from having to either sign\u00a0or<\/em> veto a legalization bill before his term is up. Sununu has said he won\u2019t seek reelection in 2024.<\/p>\n
Under the legislation that created the study group, commissioners<\/a>\u00a0were\u00a0tasked<\/a>\u00a0with studying the feasibility of a state-run cannabis model and specifically drafting legislation that:<\/p>\n
\n
- \u00a0<\/span>Allows the state to control distribution and access<\/span><\/li>\n
- Keeps marijuana away from kids and out of schools<\/li>\n
- Controls the marketing and messaging of the sale of marijuana<\/li>\n
- Prohibits \u201cmarijuana miles\u201d or the over-saturation of marijuana retail establishments<\/li>\n
- Empowers municipalities to choose to limit or prohibit marijuana retail establishments<\/li>\n
- Reduces instances of multi-drug use<\/li>\n
- Does not impose an additional tax so as to remain competitive<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Rep. John Hunt (R), a commissioner who chaired the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee this year, worked extensively on marijuana reform issues during the session and attempted to reach a compromise to enact legalization through a multi-tiered system that would include state-controlled shops, dual licensing for existing medical cannabis dispensaries and businesses privately licensed to individuals by state agencies.<\/p>\n
Hunt\u2019s House panel, however,\u00a0reached an impasse on the complex legislation<\/a>, which was being considered following Sununu\u2019s surprise announcement that he backed state-run legalization. Meanwhile the Senate\u00a0defeated a more conventional legalization bill, HB 639, despite its bipartisan support<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The underlying commission legislation that the governor signed into law with the legalization study provisions would also remove an existing requirement that pain patients try opioid-based treatments first before receiving a medical cannabis recommendation for their condition.<\/p>\n
It also includes provisions to clarify that the state\u2019s hemp law is not intended to authorize the sale of hemp-derived intoxicating products, such as delta-8 THC.<\/p>\n
In May, the House separately defeated a different marijuana legalization amendment that was being proposed as part of a Medicaid expansion bill.<\/p>\n
Also, the Senate moved to table another piece of legislation that month that would have allowed patients and designated caregivers to cultivate up to three mature plants, three immature plants and 12 seedlings for personal therapeutic use.<\/p>\n
After the Senate rejected reform bills in 2022, 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
\nFetterman Says Pennsylvania Is Getting \u2018Lapped\u2019 On Marijuana Legalization By Nearby States Because GOP Opposes \u2018Common Sense\u2019 Policy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
The post New Hampshire Marijuana Legalization Commission Fails To Reach Consensus, Votes Against Recommending Bill For 2024<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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