The Democratic candidate for governor of New Hampshire visited a medical marijuana facility in Peterborough this week, asserting that it\u2019s \u201cpast time\u201d for the state to legalize cannabis for adults\u2014a change she said would boost the economy and help support small businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cLegalizing recreational cannabis is an important issue to Granite Staters, and it\u2019s past time we got it done,\u201d said Joyce Craig, the former mayor of Manchester, following a tour of the grow site, run by the alternative treatment center (ATC) GraniteLeaf Cannabis. \u201cNew Hampshire is the only state in New England without legalization and we are missing out on tens of millions of dollars from this growing industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two major party candidates for governor\u2014Craig and her Republican opponent, Kelly Ayotte\u2014differ sharply on cannabis policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Craig has pledged to support legalization through a model that promotes small businesses and limits involvement by out-of-state companies.<\/p>\n Ayotte, meanwhile, has said repeatedly that she would oppose legalization and has disparaged Craig for saying that tax revenue from legal marijuana could help fund schools and affordable housing<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cJoyce Craig can smoke her way to a balanced budget, but I\u2019m going to do it the old-fashioned way,\u201d Ayotte, a former U.S. senator and state attorney general, said last month.<\/p>\n During Tuesday\u2019s visit to GraniteLeaf, Craig was shown around the grow facility by the nonprofit\u2019s CEO, Keenan Blum, and other executives, examining how plants are grown, trimmed, processed and packaged.<\/p>\n \u201cLegalization would be good for our economy and small businesses like GraniteLeaf, create jobs, and ensure we keep our tax dollars here in New Hampshire instead of sending them to Massachusetts or Maine,\u201d she said in a statement afterward. \u201cAs Governor, we\u2019ll pass a legalization bill that works for New Hampshire.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s time to legalize recreational cannabis in New Hampshire. <\/p>\n It was great to tour GraniteLeaf in Peterborough and hear about the ways legalization would help New Hampshire. Thank you, Keenan and team, for having me. #NHPolitics<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/hpvbf5lOLp<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Joyce Craig (@JoyceCraigNH) October 29, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Matt Simon, director of public and government relations at medical marijuana provider GraniteLeaf, said in a statement Tuesday that the ATC was \u201cthrilled to welcome Joyce Craig to our grow facility this morning to demonstrate how cannabis is currently being produced and regulated in New Hampshire.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe here at GraniteLeaf are eager to work with elected officials across our state to ensure that cannabis policies make sense and benefit as many Granite Staters as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cWe greatly appreciate Joyce\u2019s support for a small business friendly approach to adult-use legalization, and we are grateful to her for taking time to learn about how we are serving patients who are registered with the state\u2019s Therapeutic Cannabis Program.\u201d<\/p>\n (Disclosure: Simon supports Marijuana Moment\u2019s work through a\u00a0monthly Patreon pledge<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n During a debate hosted by New Hampshire Public Radio earlier this month, Craig said she would back a legalization model that \u201csupports our small businesses, our our local farmers, and that provides local control.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cObviously has to be properly regulated and labeled,\u201d she said at the time, \u201cand I would suggest that the revenues that we receive from this be put toward public education and affordable housing, two things that we need to focus on over the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n Ayotte, for her part, said she doesn\u2019t think New Hampshire needs legal marijuana, raising concerns over youth use and mental health, driving safety and problem drug use.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the deep concerns I have about legalizing marijuana is the impact that marijuana has on youth mental health,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Another Democratic politician, Rep. Rosemarie Rung, encouraged voters who care about cannabis issues to support Craig. Rung, who is seeking re-election next week, posted on social media that citizens who want to see legal marijuana in New Hampshire should \u201cvote for Joyce Craig as she is the only candidate who will sign\u201d a legalization bill if lawmakers pass one.<\/p>\n This goes out to the DOZENS, maybe HUNDREDS of Granite Staters who emailed me to vote to pass cannabis legalization bills when they were up in the NH House. If you really want them passed, vote for Joyce Craig as she is the only candidate who will sign them into law. #NHPolitics<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/TfB4hG6fgi<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Rosemarie Rung (@rosemarierun1) October 29, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Lawmakers this past legislative session nearly passed a Republican-sponsored adult-use legalization measure\u2014one that outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said he\u2019d support\u2014but\u00a0House Democrats narrowly voted to table it<\/a>\u00a0at the last minute.<\/p>\n Tabling the bill sparked accusations that politicians were using the issue to earn the party votes at the ballot box in November<\/a>. But most who voted against the bill said they were opposed to the plan on its merits, pointing to the proposal\u2019s\u00a0state-controlled franchise model, which would have given the state unprecedented sway over retail stores and consumer prices.<\/p>\n A poll released this summer showed\u00a061 support for that bill among residents<\/a>\u2014just a few percentage points shy of the 65 percent support that respondents to a separate poll said they had for legalization generally.<\/p>\n During an earlier interview with legalization advocates, Craig said she opposed putting the Liquor Commission at the helm of the cannabis industry, instead\u00a0favoring smaller, private businesses run by local owners<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Democrat also said she believes the state should move quickly to establish its own cannabis industry before the federal government opens state borders to cannabis commerce and favors a legalization structure that disincentivizes large or multi-state operators dominating New Hampshire\u2019s market.<\/p>\n New Hampshire lawmakers also worked extensively on marijuana legalization last year, working toward a compromise that would enact the reform 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>\u00a0however.<\/p>\n Bicameral lawmakers also convened a 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 Since the end of this year\u2019s regular legislative session, Sununu did approve some more minor marijuana reforms. Perhaps most notably, he signed into a law a significant medical marijuana expansion bill to\u00a0allow doctors to recommend cannabis for any debilitating condition<\/a>\u00a0they believe it would improve. Previously, patients needed to be diagnosed with certain specific conditions to qualify for legal marijuana access.<\/p>\n Enactment of that measure came after the governor signed two other medical marijuana expansion bills: one that\u00a0added generalized anxiety disorder as a qualifying condition<\/a>\u00a0and another that\u00a0allowed more healthcare providers to certify patients<\/a>\u00a0for the state\u2019s medical marijuana program.<\/p>\n Separately, a New Hampshire House committee earlier this month declined to move forward with a bill that\u00a0would have established a state-regulated therapeutic psychedelic program modeled after the current medical marijuana system<\/a>, but members of the panel generally agreed that lawmakers should pursue future legislation to expand legal access to substances like psilocybin and LSD.<\/p>\n But for now, lawmakers said, the state isn\u2019t ready to legalize and regulate entheogens that remain federally illegal.<\/p>\n DEA Begins Selecting Witnesses For Marijuana Rescheduling Hearing, Inviting Industry Stakeholders And Prohibitionists To Testify<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Joyce Craig for NH.<\/em><\/p>\n The post New Hampshire Democratic Candidate For Governor Visits Medical Marijuana Facility, Says It\u2019s \u2018Past Time\u2019 For Adult-Use Legalization<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Democratic candidate for governor of New Hampshire visited a medical marijuana facility in Peterborough this week, asserting that it\u2019s \u201cpast time\u201d for the state to legalize cannabis for adults\u2014a change she said would boost the economy and help support small businesses. \u201cLegalizing recreational cannabis is an important issue toContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"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\/78698"}],"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=78698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78699,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78698\/revisions\/78699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: New Hampshire Democratic Candidate For Governor Visits Medical Marijuana Facility, Says It\u2019s \u2018Past Time\u2019 For Adult-Use Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"