New Hampshire Votes for Legalization Without Regulations – Cannabis | weed | marijuana

Did New Hampshire Vote To Legalize Cannabis With No Regulations Or Restrictions? The New Hampshire House of Representatives has passed two bills legalizing cannabis.

About a month ago the House passed your typical legalization bill, including taxes and regulations. While this is being settled in the Senate, the House of Representatives has introduced a “simple” bill to legalize it.

House Bill 639 is a “simple” legalization bill that would remove cannabis from the state’s controlled substances list. It also removes cannabis-related offenses from the Criminal Code, including home cultivation. It also effectively decriminalizes cannabis for anyone under the age of 21.

Forget the other bill — that’s all New Hampshire has to do. Because, as we shall see, it is impossible to legalize cannabis without regulations.

New Hampshire votes for legalization without regulations

New Hampshire is the only New England state yet to be legalized. All other surrounding states, including Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont, have passed legislation legalizing recreational cannabis.

While state politicians voted for legalization without regulations, the government decriminalized cannabis in 2017.

Officially, the no-regulations vote is meant to show solidarity as the sweeping bill makes its way through the state bureaucracy.

According to the House Majority Report

Because New Hampshire is the only New England state that still criminalizes cannabis, these members felt that there was a high probability that New Hampshire citizens who wish to purchase and use cannabis products probably already do so. They felt that if this is the case, all we are doing is exposing more citizens to potential involvement in the criminal justice system by keeping it criminal. These members also expressed that with legalization there was a better chance that the products used would be safer than those available on the black market. Apart from that, these members believe that other laws before other committees are the best means to achieve this. The other members of the majority oppose legalization on grounds of public health and safety. They felt that this bill, which legalizes cannabis for anyone over the age of 21, would harm the health and safety of the public.

There’s a lot to unpack there, so let’s explore what legalization without regulation entails.

Legalize cannabis without regulations

Good times must be approved by your local health authority

Members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives have expressed concern that cannabis products on the black market are unsafe. Ergo, remove cannabis from the penal code.

Other members felt that “other legislation” before the committees should be the way to go. That legalizing cannabis without regulation would be detrimental to public health and safety.

That is the argument that Canada has put forward. Justin Trudeau’s government came to power in 2015. However, the actual legal sale did not start until 2018.

In the three years it took to implement the regime, the Trudeau government rejected calls for decriminalization or immediate reform. He said legalization without rules harms children and strengthens organized crime.

Of course, that was a lie then, as it is now.

For many former prohibitionists, legalizing cannabis is about money and power. That’s why Canada legalized. And that’s why New Hampshire’s politicians favor House Bill 643, which establishes a state monopoly on the sale of cannabis.

But suppose the “simple” legalization bill passes the New Hampshire Senate while the “bigger” tax and regulation bill is stuck in committee hell. So what?

Liberalize legalization

Of course, legalizing cannabis without regulations is impossible. Regulation happens naturally. Entrepreneurs regulate each other by competing for consumers. Consumers regulate entrepreneurs by patronizing various competitors.

The only way to benefit from it – without government privileges – is by exchanging goods and services with people. So you’d better offer high quality stuff.

But not everyone is honest. And sometimes mistakes are made. That’s why we have laws. Disputes inevitably arise. Violence is unpredictable, costly and bad for business.

People figured that out centuries ago. English common law stems from factual cases and settlements that arose from and evolved out of actual disputes.

In the western legal tradition, laws were procedural. Politicians have not pre-emptively created new rules and then empowered expensive bureaucracies to enforce them.

Only a new cannabis bureaucracy can ensure public health and safety? Historical evidence contradicts.

English common law Regulates cannabis

Consider how cannabis companies would ensure their products are safely and accurately labeled to avoid product liability claims. We don’t need laws for that. We have tort law.

Criminal law protects against theft and damage to property. Ask a high-profile celebrity advocating “common sense gun control” whether they rely on private security or government police.

Consider how contract law provides the cannabis industry with a framework to enter into agreements with other companies, vendors, employees and customers.

Contracts can specify the delivery of goods, terms of payment, guarantees and other essential details that reduce the risk of misunderstandings and disputes. Contract law provides a mechanism for enforcing agreements when a party fails to meet its obligations.

Ownership law provides a legal framework for owning and using land, buildings, and other assets that cannabis businesses need to operate.

Property law defines the rights and responsibilities of property owners, including the right to exclude others from ownership, the right to use the property for specific purposes, and the right to sell or transfer the property.

For the cannabis industry, property rights are fundamental as it allows entrepreneurs to lease or buy land and buildings for the cultivation, processing and sale of cannabis products.

Or consider how commercial law governs transactions between businesses, including the sale of goods, financing and marketing. It also deals with financing issues such as credit, investments and equity.

Legalization without regulation

Legalize cannabis without regulations. We already have the framework. The laws are already in the books.

Tort and criminal law provide security, while contract, property and commercial law facilitate cooperation and exchange. Politics does not have to come into play.

As Lao Tzu once said, “The more law and order is emphasized, the more thieves and robbers there will be.”

And that’s certainly true in the cannabis industry, where the people who once caged you for possession now benefit from the legal system that they write the rules for.