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New Hampshire\u2019s Senate Judiciary Committee recommended killing a number of drug policy reform bills at a hearing on Tuesday, including measures to legalize simple marijuana possession by adults, increase medical cannabis possession limits and allow harm reduction organizations to legally use drug testing strips to check substances for contaminants.<\/p>\n
Members of the panel voted 3\u20132 along party lines to designate all three proposals inexpedient to legislate, recommending that the full Senate reject them.<\/p>\n
The committee also took testimony on three other drug-related bills\u2014including measures that would decriminalize possession of psilocybin, allow greenhouse cultivation by existing medical marijuana businesses and lessen penalties for state-registered patients who illegally sell their marijuana\u2014but did not act on those proposals.<\/p>\n
All the drug bills heard at Tuesday\u2019s hearing have already been passed by House lawmakers<\/a>. And regardless of the Judiciary Committee\u2019s recommendations, all the measures will eventually be considered by the full Senate.<\/p>\n One of the more ambitious bills rejected by the panel was HB 198, from Rep. Jared Sullivan (D). It would legalize noncommercial possession and use of marijuana among adults 21 and older<\/a>, permitting adults to have up to two ounces of marijuana flower, 10 grams of concentrate and up to 2,000 milligrams of THC in other cannabis products.<\/p>\n \u201cMy goal here is to stop arresting people,\u201d Sullivan told the committee. \u201cIt is 2025. This is something that has been legalized in nearly half the states in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposal would ban public smoking and vaping of marijuana, and driving under the influence of marijuana would remain illegal.<\/p>\n Sullivan said the proposal was based largely on a legalization measure lawmakers nearly passed last year<\/a> but without that bill\u2019s regulated commercial system\u2014a controversial issue that ultimately derailed the earlier effort.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the disagreements,\u201d the sponsor said, \u201care generally on how to sell it. This bill doesn\u2019t touch that.\u201d<\/p>\n Opponents, however, including law enforcement, anti-drug groups and Republicans on the Senate committee, said the legislation would send the wrong message to children and fail to ensure product safety.<\/p>\n Sen. Daryl Abbas (R) complained that the bill\u2019s supporters referred to the criminalization of simple marijuana possession \u201can injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll I can hear people talk about is an injustice that I personally feel could have been resolved with prior legislation,\u201d he told colleagues, ostensibly referring to last year\u2019s legalization bill. \u201cThis is going to be just an open policy that just allows it to be everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you hear testimony about an injustice,\u201d he repeated, \u201cthat injustice could have been resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n The committee\u2019s chair, Sen. Bill Gannon (R) said of the legalization proposal: \u201cFor me, it\u2019s always been about our youth. It\u2019s the wrong message to send to kids.\u201d<\/p>\n Gannon, who moved to designate HB 198<\/a> as inexpedient to legislate, also claimed drivers in the state are strategically combining drugs to avoid failing drug tests.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people know they [can] have three drinks, and then you switch over and you start using marijuana,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Another bill the committee recommended abandoning\u2014HB 190, from Rep. Heath Howard (D)\u2014would increase the possession limit of medical marijuana by patients and caregivers, raising it to four ounces from the current two. Existing 10-day patient purchase limits would also increase from two ounces up to four.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a very small number of dispensaries across the state,\u201d Howard told the panel, noting that people in the northern half of New Hampshire have to drive hours to pick up medicine one of the state\u2019s 10 licensed alternative treatment centers (ATCs).<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just trying to make sure that people have access to the medicine they need, decreasing the total amount of trips that they need to take to the dispensary every month and providing an opportunity for them to get the actual amount of cannabis that they use,\u201d said Howard, himself a state-registered medical marijuana patient.<\/p>\n Jerry Knirk, chair of the state Therapeutic Cannabis Medical Oversight Board, said long trips to pick up medical marijuana can be \u201cparticularly troubling\u201d for older patients, people with severe back pain and those without regular access to a vehicle.<\/p>\n With other prescription medications, Knirk pointed out, Granite Staters are able to fill multiple months\u2019 worth of refills in advance in order to limit trips from a more rural location to the nearest pharmacy.<\/p>\n Gannon, for his part, said he felt the whole regulatory system around weight limits was \u201cbroken\u201d because it fails to account for potency and the total amount of THC in the product.<\/p>\n GOP members voted to designate HB 190<\/a> as inexpedient to legislate over the protestations of the two Democrats on the panel.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy can\u2019t we just make it easy for people to get what is a legal product here in the state?\u201d Sen. Debra Altschiller (D) asked.<\/p>\n Another bill the committee voted to deem inexpedient to legislate was HB 226<\/a>, from Rep. Jodi Newell (D). That measure would not affect state law around drugs themselves but would instead specify that certain drug testing equipment\u2014strips that screen for the presence of individual substances\u2014would not be considered illegal paraphernalia when used by authorized organizations for harm reduction purposes.<\/p>\n The change would allow groups to legally test drugs for contaminants such as fentanyl and other especially harmful substances, supporters said, in order, for example, to better understand dangerous additives circulating in the drug supply.<\/p>\n A law enforcement representative was critical of the proposal, however, noting that the change wouldn\u2019t necessarily lead more people into drug treatment or recovery and could create confusion around the legal transportation of drug testing strips to harm reduction organizations themselves\u2014an issue the legislation doesn\u2019t cover.<\/p>\n Abbas also claimed that the change would have unintended consequences, for example allowing drug dealers to use drug-testing strips to better determine how much to dilute illegal products. He said the bill \u201calso allows someone who\u2019s illegally dealing drugs to know if they want to cut their product and make it, you know, less potent but expand what they have.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis helps facilitate that,\u201d he said. \u201cRight now, if you saw someone with that device, it would be a suggestion that they\u2019re committing a criminal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Tara Reardon (D) pushed back against Abbas\u2019s assertion, noting that drug-checking strips would only be legal for state-registered harm reduction organizations, but Abbas responded that there are simply \u201ctoo many pitfalls\u201d to the proposal.<\/p>\n The Judiciary Committee also took testimony but did not act on three other drug bills.<\/p>\n Regarding psilocybin, HB 528 from Rep. Kevin Verville (R) would decriminalize the psychedelic. Under the plan, a first psilocybin offense would be a violation, subject to a fine of $100 or less.<\/p>\n Second and third psilocybin offenses would be class B misdemeanors, carrying fines of up to $500 and $1,000, respectively, but with no risk of jail time. Fourth and subsequent offenses would remain classified as felonies. Sales and distribution of the substance would remain illegal.<\/p>\n As originally introduced, the legislation would have completely removed penalties around adults 18 and older obtaining, purchasing, transporting, possessing or using psilocybin, effectively legalizing it on a noncommercial basis. However a House committee amended the bill before unanimously advancing it last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n Verville acknowledged that removing all penalties for simple possession\u2014or around other psychedelic substances, such as mescaline or LSD\u2014was \u201cclearly a bridge too far\u201d for state lawmakers, but he urged them to step down what\u2019s now a felony offense around psilocybin.<\/p>\n \u201cMy pinch point is making somebody a felon for a first-time offense of psilocybin,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Law enforcement generally opposes HB 528<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cPsilocybin is a Schedule I drug. It\u2019s a psychedelic,\u201d said Bill Bright of the New Hampshire State Police. \u201cThe highs that people get from psychedelics and psilocybin are unpredictable, which we believe [make it] extremely dangerous to legalize.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cImpaired driving will be an issue. Increased use by youth,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd who knows what else could be involved with that type of situation.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the claim psilocybin is used therapeutically, he added, \u201cthis is not approved by the [Food and Drug Administration] or any other approved medical board that I\u2019m aware of.\u201d<\/p>\n Another medical marijuana bill heard but not acted upon at Tuesday\u2019s hearing, HB 301,<\/a> from Rep. Suzanne Vail (D), would allow medical marijuana operators to each establish a single additional cultivation location, including in a greenhouse. Currently all growing by ATCs must happen indoors, with greenhouse cultivation prohibited.<\/p>\n The state legislature passed a similar bill from Vail last year, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Chris Sununu (R), and lawmakers failed to override the veto<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cCurrently, cannabis cultivation occurs in enclosed grow houses, one for each ATC,\u201d Vail explained at the hearing. \u201cThat relies on artificial lighting and climate control systems, which consume substantial electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n A study published earlier this year found that a switch from indoor to outdoor grows would lower carbon emissions by as much as 76 percent<\/a>. Separate research last year, meanwhile, concluded that marijuana grown outdoors can be 50 times less carbon-emitting than indoor-grown cannabis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jerry Knirk, chair of the state Therapeutic Cannabis Medical Oversight Board, also told lawmakers it\u2019s reasonable to expect the change would bring medical marijuana costs down by allowing ATCs to produce more marijuana at a lower price.<\/p>\n Abbas was skeptical, however, repeatedly pressing speakers for more data analysis or economic modeling on how the change would affect patient prices.<\/p>\n The committee also considered a second bill from Vail, HB 380<\/a>, which would adjust penalties around sales of medical cannabis to people who are not qualifying patients or caregivers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt eliminates the additional felony that carries a potential $300,000 fine and seven-year prison sentence for a patient who diverts their supply to someone who\u2019s not another patient or caregiver,\u201d the sponsor explained.<\/p>\n Knirk of the state Therapeutic Cannabis Medical Oversight Board said the current penalties are redundant. Even without the felony charge, a patients could still lose their state registration and face criminal charges for illegally selling marijuana.<\/p>\n \u201cThe point is that if you do sell cannabis and you\u2019re a therapeutic cannabis patient, you would still lose your certification,\u201d he said, \u201cand you would be subject to the exact same penalties as a non-patient.\u201d<\/p>\n Supporters said the restriction made more sense when New Hampshire first legalized medical marijuana and policymakers were concerned about diverting cannabis into the illicit recreational market. But today, residents can legally obtain cannabis merely by visiting a neighboring state.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody would have to have their head examined to go out and buy expensive therapeutic cannabis,\u201d Knirk said, \u201cand then sell it to somebody recreationally when [that person] could buy it for a whole lot less.\u201d<\/p>\n A representative from the drug prohibition group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) opposed all six reform measures at Tuesday\u2019s hearing, claiming at one point that \u201call<\/span> of<\/span> the<\/span> arguments<\/span> that<\/span> people<\/span> use<\/span> to<\/span> legalize<\/span> usually<\/span> are<\/span> not<\/span> based<\/span> in<\/span> facts,<\/span> and<\/span> they\u2019re<\/span> not<\/span> based<\/span> in<\/span> the<\/span> data.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n Gannon indicated the panel may return to take action on the remaining bills next week.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the same Senate committee\u00a0voted to recommend killing three other cannabis-related measures<\/a>, including a Republican-led legalization proposal and a plan to let state-registered medical marijuana patients grow plants at home.<\/p>\n Members also rejected another bill that would have allowed ATCs to buy nonintoxicating hemp cannabinoid products from commercial producers and, after lab testing, use them in their own products.<\/p>\n All the bills will nevertheless move to the Senate floor, at which point the full body will have the option to approve them despite the committee\u2019s recommendations. Some advocates are still hopeful the Senate will move forward on at least the hemp cannabinoids bill, HB 51, once it reaches the chamber floor.<\/p>\n \u2014 Days before the earlier hearing, Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) reiterated her opposition to legalization in the Granite State<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been very clear on this,\u201d Ayotte told reporters. \u201cI ran on this issue, and the people of New Hampshire know where I stand on it. I don\u2019t support it.\u201d<\/p>\n A former U.S. senator and state attorney general, Ayotte\u00a0said repeatedly on the campaign trail last year that she would oppose efforts at adult-use legalization<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite Ayotte\u2019s recent comments flatly opposing legalization, she left the door open to more modest cannabis reforms. She told reporters she planned review every bill that comes to her desk.<\/p>\n Last legislative session, New Hampshire lawmakers nearly passed a bill that would have legalized and regulated marijuana for adults\u2014a proposal that then-Gov. Chris Sununu (R) had indicated he\u2019d support. But infighting over how the market would be set up ultimately scuttled that measure. House Democrats\u00a0narrowly voted to table it\u00a0at the last minute<\/a>, taking issue with the\u00a0proposal\u2019s state-controlled franchise model, which would have given the state unprecedented sway over retail stores and consumer prices.<\/p>\n A poll from last June found that\u00a0almost two thirds (65 percent) of New Hampshire residents supported legalizing marijuana<\/a>. Nearly that same share of residents (61 percent) said at the time that they also supported last session\u2019s failed legalization bill, HB 1633.<\/p>\n Bill Maher Insists He \u2018Wasn\u2019t High\u2019 When He Had Dinner With Trump At The White House, Calling It A \u2018Missed Opportunity\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Image element courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post New Hampshire Senate Committee Rejects Marijuana Legalization Bill That Passed House<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
New Hampshire\u2019s Senate Judiciary Committee recommended killing a number of drug policy reform bills at a hearing on Tuesday, including measures to legalize simple marijuana possession by adults, increase medical cannabis possession limits and allow harm reduction organizations to legally use drug testing strips to check substances for contaminants. MembersContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":80912,"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\/80911"}],"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=80911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80913,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80911\/revisions\/80913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: New Hampshire Senate Committee Rejects Marijuana Legalization Bill That Passed House<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"