New Hampshire House votes to legalize marijuana possession and cultivation

By Nicolas Jose Rodriguez

On Thursday, the GOP-controlled New Hampshire House of Representatives passed law legalizing adult marijuana possession and personal cultivation. Members passed the Rep. Carol McGuire (R) sponsored bill by 241-113 votes.

That came a day after the board narrowly rejected a separate, broader legalization proposal that would have regulated commercial production and sales, Marijuana Moment reported.

Photo by Seth Dewey via Unsplash

“It is not – and never has been – the government’s job to protect you from harming yourself,” MP Max Abramson (R) said ahead of Thursday’s vote. “And apart from the B-horror films of the 1950s, it was never the government’s job to protect you from a plant.”

“This is really a bipartisan issue with strong and broad support from Granite Staters,” said Rep. Mark Warden (R). “The war on cannabis is a war on people. These people are our neighbors and our voters. “

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Meanwhile, New Hampshire Governor Christopher T. Sununu (R) has spoken out strongly against legalizing recreational marijuana and has mixed support for the expansion of therapeutic cannabis in recent years.

The governor approved a major expansion of the program in 2017 by giving chronic pain patients the opportunity to qualify. In May 2021, Sununu signed House Bill 89 that made autism spectrum disorder a qualifying condition for therapeutic cannabis and also made moderate to severe insomnia a qualifying symptom associated with an underlying disease, newhampshirebulletin.com reported

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and was republished with permission.