New Hampshire Senate Votes Against Cannabis Legalization Bill |

The New Hampshire Senate on Thursday voted against a bill legalizing recreational cannabis, likely scrapping prospects for substantive cannabis policy reform to be passed this year. The measure, House Bill 629, was defeated by the State Senate by a bipartisan vote of 15-9.

Under the measure, possession of up to three-quarters of an ounce of weed would have been legalized for adults 21 and older. The bill would also have allowed the possession of some cannabis tinctures and edibles, and self-cultivation by adults of up to six cannabis plants would also have been allowed. However, the legislation made no provisions for the commercial production and sale of cannabis.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed House Bill 629 earlier this year by a bipartisan vote of 241 to 113. However, the bill was rejected by the state Senate on Thursday over public safety concerns.

“This is not a harmless substance,” Republican Senator Bob Giuda told colleagues during a debate ahead of Thursday’s vote. “Legalizing this is not good for any part of our population.”

Broad support for legalizing recreational cannabis

Senators supporting the bill noted that cannabis policy reform has broad support in New Hampshire. A recent University of New Hampshire poll shows that 74% of state residents support lifting the adult cannabis ban, with more than two-thirds supporting legislation that would have allowed legal cannabis to be sold by state retailers. Democratic Sen. Becky Whitley said the state is lagging behind its neighbors in legalizing cannabis.

“New Hampshire has become an island in New England, with our overly onerous cannabis regulations at odds with what the scientific health and social data says,” Whitley said. “And most importantly, what New Hampshire voters want.”

Whitley also pointed to data released this week by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, showing that black New Hampshire residents are 4.8 times more likely to be arrested for possession than white people. She also noted that inequality was more pronounced in some areas, saying: “13.9 times: That’s the rate at which blacks are more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession in Manchester, despite both groups roughly marijuana consume the same tariff.”

Republican Senator Bill Gannon disputed the data Whitley offered, saying he had read “studies by numerous police departments” which he said showed that blacks were being arrested at lower rates than whites. Gannon’s office did not respond to an email from High Times asking for more information about the research cited by the senator.

Gannon also said that lawmakers should not be swayed by the international cannabis reform movement.

“In New Hampshire, we make men and women of granite,” he said, adding, “I don’t care what my three neighboring states and Canada are doing. The majority of the US is still opposed to legalization.”

Earlier Thursday, the New Hampshire Senate rejected a separate bill that would have legalized the possession and sale of recreational cannabis. Under House Bill 1598, the New Hampshire Liquor Commission would have been given the responsibility to “regulate and administer the cultivation, manufacture, testing and retail sale of cannabis statewide,” with sales of recreational cannabis through the agency’s state liquor stores is processed.

The law passed the New Hampshire House of Representatives earlier this month by a vote of 169 to 156. But in a unanimous vote on April 20, the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended that the bill be considered “improper to legislate.”

The senators followed this recommendation unanimously on Thursday. With both bills defeated by the Senate, efforts to legalize recreational cannabis in New Hampshire are likely dead by next year.