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A New Hampshire marijuana legalization bill already\u00a0passed by the House of Representatives<\/a> landed in a Senate committee on Thursday, where opponents of the current version\u2014including Sen. Daryl Abbas (R) and Senate President Jeb Bradley (R)\u2014unveiled amendments that would revise major portions of the proposal.<\/p>\n The panel also heard three other cannabis-related measures, including a proposal to double the amount that medical patients can possess as well as a plan to provide legal relief for people with past marijuana convictions.<\/p>\n Despite the eagerness of some on the Senate Judiciary Committee to make adjustments to the legalization bill, its sponsor, Rep. Erica Layon (R), warned the panel that senators shouldn\u2019t assume that House lawmakers will sign off on any proposed changes, including plans to jail people for public consumption of marijuana.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to be careful that we don\u2019t take the House\u2019s support for granted,\u201d Layon warned senators, saying some changes could cause House members to sour on the bill.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the fact that we need to agree between two bodies and also the person who signs the bill, there are a lot of constraints,\u201d Layon said, describing the House-passed version as \u201ca delicate tightrope walk that will get us to where we need to be with perhaps the smallest of changes.\u201d<\/p>\n As approved by the House earlier this month, HB 1633<\/a> would allow 15 retail stores statewide and impose a 10 percent state charge on adult-use purchases. Medical marijuana would be exempt from the tax. Retailers would be regulated through a so-called \u201cagency store\u201d model, with significant restrictions on marketing and advertising.<\/p>\n Changes proposed at the hearing by Abbas\u2014who led a state commission on legalization last year that failed at its charge<\/a> of crafting legislation to legalize marijuana\u2014would increase penalties for public consumption, making second and subsequent offenses unspecified misdemeanors. That would expose people jail time in addition to a criminal record, an outcome critics said undercut the very purpose of legalization.<\/p>\n Other adjustments in Abbas\u2019s amendment, which was not posted on the legislature\u2019s website at the time of the hearing, would shift the bill\u2019s regulatory approach to a franchise system, under which the state\u2019s Liquor Commission would oversee the look, feel and operations of the 15 stores.<\/p>\n Layon has previously opposed the franchise system, which was first pitched during last year\u2019s study commission following the governor\u2019s call for a system of state-run cannabis stores. She\u2019s said it would expose the state to legal risk and financial liability as well as put the government in the unusual business of setting prices on marijuana.<\/p>\n In addition to changes from Abbas, the panel also took suggestions from Bradley, the Senate president, who listed a number of revisions he wants to see to the bill after Abbas\u2019s amendment.<\/p>\n \u201cAs everybody knows, I don\u2019t support this bill,\u201d Bradley began. But \u201cif it\u2019s going to pass, we need to make it the best possible version of legalization that we possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n The Senate president said provisions allowing noncommercial sharing should be removed. \u201cI\u2019m not sure why we\u2019re allowing that. I hope you will delete that,\u201d he told committee members.<\/p>\n He also called for an upper limit on allowable THC levels of marijuana products, which the bill currently does not have, and proposed reducing the number of adult-use stores that each medical marijuana company\u2014known in New Hampshire as alternative treatment centers (ATCs)\u2014could operate, from three down to one.<\/p>\n As for testing of cannabis products, Bradley pointed to a list of substances that are screened for on Canada\u2019s legal market, recommending that the committee include similar provisions. \u201cEither way,\u201d he said, \u201cit should be tested to make sure there is purity.\u201d<\/p>\n Other changes proposed by Bradley would strike rules regarding employee samples of marijuana and modify the makeup of the Cannabis Control Commission, removing one of two industry representatives and installing a representative of the attorney general\u2019s office.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are significant legal issues, as we all know, and there are public safety and health issues,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the attorney general, whoever that individual is, is the most important person for this commission.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Becky Whitley (D), a member of the Senate panel who also sat on the state legalization commission last year, asked Bradley whether incorporating the list of changes would move him in \u201ca more positive direction\u201d on the bill.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not voting for it,\u201d Bradley replied. \u201cBut those of us that oppose this\u2014just as you\u2019ve opposed a number of things\u2014we all have an obligation to make this better. If it\u2019s going to pass, I want to make it the best of a bad outcome that I possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n Of Abbas\u2019s amendment, Whitley asked her colleague why it lacked language protecting job applicants from discrimination in hiring on the basis of legal cannabis use.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think discrimination is the appropriate term to be used there,\u201d Abbas said. \u201cCannabis use is not a protected class.\u201d<\/p>\n The hearing continued an ongoing back and forth between competing factions of Republicans whose visions for the cannabis legislation are at odds. On one side is Layon and a mix of bipartisan allies in the House who back legalization, and on the other is Abbas and a handful of other GOP senators who say their chief goal is to limit the negative consequences of the policy change.<\/p>\n Also looming over the debate is Gov. Chris Sununu (R), who signaled earlier this month that he has no interest in signing the measure in the form passed by the House<\/a>. The governor added, however, that he\u2019s open to supporting the legalization bill if amendments are made in the Senate.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernor Sununu has been crystal clear about the framework needed for a legalization bill to earn his support, focusing on harm reduction and keeping it out of kids\u2019 hands,\u201d his office said in a statement after the House vote. \u201cThe legislation passed today doesn\u2019t get us there but the Governor looks forward to working with the Senate to see if we can get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n In an email to Marijuana Moment ahead of Thursday\u2019s hearing, Abbas said he felt the chief sticking point on the legalization bill was how to handle public consumption.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest issue that could hold this up is that many people want to permit public use or [make] public use a small fine that isn\u2019t economically viable to enforce,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not sure why this is an issue,\u201d he added, \u201cbecause if you talk to people outside of the political bubble, people overwhelming[ly] reject the idea of public use.\u201d<\/p>\n Abbas did not respond to a follow-up email asking him to identify the \u201cmany people\u201d who \u201cwant to permit public use.\u201d<\/p>\n During discussion of the matter at the panel hearing, he brought up the subject multiple times.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no excuse to smoke cannabis in public,\u201d he said. \u201cI keep walking people how difficult it is to even get caught in the first place. Those who do violate the law, they\u2019re willfully doing it. They\u2019re going out of their way to do it. And to me that\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n Whitley, for her part, said one of the reasons she supports legalization is \u201cbecause I don\u2019t think people should be arrested for this conduct anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Following testimony from the ACLU of New Hampshire Executive Director Devon Chaffee in support of the House-passed version of the bill, in which Chaffee said she opposed the increased penalty, Abbas questioned her on the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cMy understanding of why people believe we should legalize marijuana is because they do not believe that it is just that people should be going to jail for marijuana offenses,\u201d Chaffee explained. \u201cHaving a joint in public seems like, in the scheme of things, not something that the people of New Hampshire believe somebody should go to jail for based on all of the polling that I have seen.\u201d<\/p>\n Abbas was undeterred: \u201cHow many times would a person have to be proven to have violated this public use law before the potential of jail time\u2014\u201d he began to ask.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think people should be going to jail for public smoking of marijuana, period,\u201d Chaffee shot back.<\/p>\n During public comment on the bill, a number of speakers turned out to warn against legalization, claiming it would increase use among young people and lead to a spike in cannabis-related psychosis and schizophrenia. Others said it would decrease quality of life in the state, with one lawmaker going so far as to claim that the first thing arrivals at the Denver International Airport smell after legalization in Colorado is people smoking marijuana in the airport.<\/p>\n Also testifying were representatives of ATCs in the state, who said they were concerned the Senate committee amendments to the bill could put them out of business by allowing well funded, out-of-state companies to come in and take over the state market.<\/p>\n Abbas was skeptical of those claims. \u201cYou\u2019re saying that it doesn\u2019t really offer a clear path to the therapeutic industry,\u201d he said, pointing to a provision on the bill that would give advantages to applicants for retail licenses who have experience in medical marijuana. \u201cWhat more would it have to say to be clear that there\u2019s a path?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would point you to the last three words\u201d of that provision, answered Matt Simon, director of public and government relations at medical marijuana provider GraniteLeaf Cannabis: \u201cor another state.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPrior experience of a company operating in California or Oklahoma would have, if I\u2019m reading this correctly, the same consideration of a company that\u2019s been serving New Hampshire for seven years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Abbas asked what Simon thought of the Constitution\u2019s Commerce Clause and whether it prohibited out-of-state control of state-licensed cannabis businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not an attorney, senator,\u201d Simon said, \u201cbut I am very familiar with cannabis laws in other states, and we would be a tremendous outlier if we did not recognize in-state experience as inherently valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n (Disclosure: Simon supports Marijuana Moment\u2019s work through a monthly Patreon pledge<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Abbas also wondered why medical marijuana shouldn\u2019t be subject to a state tax, referred to as a franchise fee in his bill. He asked Simon whether, if ATCs were allowed entry into the retail market, the businesses could simply not<\/em> pass down the 10 percent added cost to patients.<\/p>\n Simon said the costs would certainly be passed down to consumers. \u201cIf I\u2019m understanding the question correctly, if we\u2019re liable for 10 percent, or whatever it is,\u201d he responded, \u201cthat will absolutely be passed on to consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n The bigger policy goal, he said, should be preserving the state\u2019s medical marijuana market. \u201cWhy would patients register if there\u2019s no tax-free advantage,\u201d he asked, \u201cor if they have to drive by three adult-use stores to get to the nearest dispensary that sells medical?\u201d<\/p>\n Neither the amendments from Abbas nor those proposed by Senate President Bradley were voted on at Thursday\u2019s hearing. Committee members will have the weekend to review the legislation and are expected to take it up again next week.<\/p>\n The Senate panel also considered three other cannabis-related bills. Among them were HB 1350<\/a>, which would double the amount of medical marijuana that patients can possess; HB 1539<\/a>, which would create an automatic annulment and resentencing process<\/a> around cannabis criminal violations; and HB 1295<\/a>, which would make adjustments to criminal violations around the unlicensed sale of medical marijuana.<\/p>\n While there was little discussion on the medical marijuana amount limits or unlicensed sale bill, the annulments bill drew testimony from both opponents and supporters. Law enforcement and a representative of the state Attorney General\u2019s office, for their part, said the state already has a petition-based process, with which the proposed automatic procedure would be \u201cinconsistent.\u201d<\/p>\n Proponents of the bill, meanwhile, such as ACLU of New Hampshire\u2019s Chaffee, noted that the new process is intended to be less \u201conerous\u201d than what\u2019s in place with the petition system.<\/p>\n \u201cThe entire point of this bill,\u201d she said, \u201cis to create a process that is far more manageable for people who are being affected by these sort of collateral consequences that they\u2019re facing for crimes, quite frankly, that more than just about two thirds of Granite Staters do not believe should be a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n As for HB 1633, the legalization bill, sponsor Layon has said she\u2019s repeatedly reached out to the plan\u2019s opponents in attempts to build consensus.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bill that passed the House reflects the Governor\u2019s guidelines as I understood them, until his last minute embrace of a franchise model,\u201d she told Marijuana Moment after the House vote earlier this month. \u201cI made dozens of attempts to meet with the Governor and his staff to get into the policy details, but the best meeting I achieved was a walk-and-talk with him through the halls of the Capitol.\u201d<\/p>\n Failure to reach agreement could threaten the legalization bill entirely despite what appears to be majority support for the policy change.<\/p>\n In a choice between the two competing models\u2014Layon\u2019s agency store model versus the governor-supported franchise approach\u2014a House subcommittee earlier this month rejected a sweeping amendment that would have replaced Layon\u2019s plan with the franchise model<\/a>. That amendment was offered by subcommittee vice chair Rep. Dan McGuire (R) despite him telling the panel he didn\u2019t entirely agree with the proposed changes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are told from the governor and from our contacts in the Senate that this is what they want: the franchise model,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cWe are also told they will not vote for the version the House passed, and we are told that they are either unwilling or incapable of making significant changes in the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n Sununu\u2019s latest comments suggest he believes the Senate can in fact make those changes.<\/p>\n But Layon has now repeatedly warned that the adjustments backed by Senate Republicans like Abbas may not find support in the House.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a real danger that the House may not accept what comes back from the Senate,\u201d Layon said earlier this month, \u201cso I look forward to talking with my colleagues to ensure that anything we receive can pass without a Committee of Conference.\u201d<\/p>\n As Layon has workshopped the plan over the course of the legislative session, Abbas and others have warned that the bill will be dead on arrival in the Senate unless it includes the state-run franchise system and other restrictive provisions, such as a ban on lobbying.<\/p>\n But despite those warnings, House lawmakers decided to stick with Layon\u2019s approach. Rep. Chuck Grassie (D) applauded his Republican colleage at an earlier House subcommittee hearing for what what he called \u201ca Herculean effort\u2026to get the governor and the Senate on board.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Senate has problems with passing a bill, I don\u2019t see why we have to do their hard work here for them,\u201d Grassie said at the time. \u201cI think they need to debate this. They need to make up their mind on a bill, and they need to send something back to us if we want to see cannabis legalization in the state of New Hampshire.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Layon has previously told Marijuana Moment that she never expected her proposal to be the only bill introduced this session to legalize marijuana.<\/p>\n \u201cI initially intended that this bill sort of be a counterpoint to what the special committee was going to deliver and what Sen. Abbas was going to introduce,\u201d she said. \u201cThe fact that he didn\u2019t introduce it and this is the only shot at legalization this year, I just really wanted to work hard in a good faith effort to get to something that I was comfortable with and that match the requirements of the governor as best I understood them.\u201d<\/p>\n The governor said at a recent event, meanwhile, that he thinks legalization is \u201cinevitable\u201d in New Hampshire, adding that policymakers have \u201cseen the mistakes other states have made so as not to walk down that path.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople just want the accessibility for adults, keeping it away from kids,\u201d Sununu said. \u201cIf they can meet those rough stipulations, I would sign it, because I think that\u2019s one of the safest systems you\u2019re going to get.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that as a legalization skeptic, he\u2019s better positioned to consider a thoughtful bill.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no better person to help design a system that could be fraught with problems and risk specifically to kids than the guy that\u2019s most scared of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Last year Sununu said he supported a system of state-run retail stores, but lawmakers on a state study commission last year instead pivoted to the idea of a franchise system, which the governor has said he\u2019s willing to entertain. Officials at the Liquor Commission have said it would be far less costly for private franchisees to build out a system of retail stores than to ask the Liquor Commission to take on that task itself.<\/p>\n Lawmakers worked extensively on marijuana reform issues last 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. The legislature ultimately\u00a0hit an impasse on the complex legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bicameral lawmakers also convened the state commission tasked with studying legalization and proposing a path forward last year, though the group\u00a0ultimately failed to arrive at a consensus or propose final legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Senate\u00a0defeated a more conventional House-passed legalization bill last year, HB 639, despite its bipartisan support<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last May, the House defeated marijuana legalization language that was included in a Medicaid expansion bill. The Senate also 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 the 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 Pennsylvania Lawmakers Press Liquor Regulator About State\u2019s Ability To Run Marijuana Shops During Joint Legalization Hearing<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Carlos Gracia<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post New Hampshire Senate President Wants Changes To Marijuana Legalization Bill Passed By House<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A New Hampshire marijuana legalization bill already\u00a0passed by the House of Representatives landed in a Senate committee on Thursday, where opponents of the current version\u2014including Sen. Daryl Abbas (R) and Senate President Jeb Bradley (R)\u2014unveiled amendments that would revise major portions of the proposal. The panel also heard three otherContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":74696,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74695"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74697,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74695\/revisions\/74697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: New Hampshire Senate President Wants Changes To Marijuana Legalization Bill Passed By House<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"