The New Hampshire Senate voted in opposition to a invoice to legalize leisure pot on Thursday, doubtless killing the prospects for the adoption of substantive hashish coverage reform this 12 months. The measure, Home Invoice 629, was rejected by the state Senate with a bipartisan vote of 15-9.
Below the measure, possession of as much as three-quarters of an oz of pot would have been legalized for adults 21 and older. The invoice additionally would have allowed for the possession of some hashish tinctures and edibles, and residential cultivation of as much as six hashish vegetation by adults would even have been permitted. The laws didn’t, nevertheless, embrace provisions for the business manufacturing and sale of hashish.
The New Hampshire Home of Representatives overwhelmingly accepted Home Invoice 629 earlier this 12 months with a bipartisan vote of 241-113. However the invoice was rejected on Thursday by the state Senate over issues about public security.
“This isn’t a innocent substance,” Republican Senator Bob Giuda told colleagues throughout a debate earlier than Thursday’s vote. “Legalizing this does no good for any phase of our inhabitants.”
Broad Help for Leisure Hashish Legalization
Senators in favor of the invoice famous that hashish coverage reform enjoys broad assist in New Hampshire. Recent polling from the College of New Hampshire exhibits that 74% of the state’s residents approve ending the prohibition on hashish for adults, with greater than two-thirds expressing assist for laws that may have approved gross sales of authorized hashish by state-run retailers. Democratic Senator Becky Whitley stated that the state is falling behind its neighbors on hashish legalization.
“New Hampshire has turn into an island in New England, with our overly burdensome rules of hashish which are out of sync with what the scientific well being and social knowledge says,” Whitley stated. “And most significantly, with what New Hampshire voters need.”
Whitley additionally referred to knowledge launched this week by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire that confirmed that Black residents of New Hampshire are 4.8 instances extra prone to be arrested for possession than white individuals. She additionally famous that the disparity is extra pronounced in some areas, saying “13.9 instances: That’s the variety of instances that Black individuals are extra prone to be arrested for marijuana possession when in comparison with white individuals in Manchester, regardless of each teams utilizing marijuana at roughly the identical price.”
Republican Senator Invoice Gannon disputed the info supplied by Whitley, saying he had learn “research from quite a few police departments” that he stated confirmed that individuals of colour are arrested at decrease charges than white individuals. Gannon’s workplace didn’t reply to an e-mail from Excessive Occasions requesting extra info on the analysis cited by the senator.
Gannon additionally stated that lawmakers shouldn’t be swayed by the worldwide hashish reform motion.
“In New Hampshire, we make women and men of granite,” he stated, including “I don’t care what my three neighboring states and Canada do. The vast majority of the U.S. remains to be in opposition to legalization.”
Earlier on Thursday, the New Hampshire Senate killed a separate invoice that may have legalized leisure hashish possession and gross sales. Below Home Invoice 1598, the New Hampshire Liquor Fee would have been given the accountability “to control and administer the cultivation, manufacture, testing, and retail sale of hashish statewide,” with leisure hashish gross sales carried out by means of the company’s state-run liquor shops.
The invoice was handed by the New Hampshire Home of Representatives earlier this month by a vote of 169-156. However with a unanimous vote on April 20, the Senate Methods and Means Committee advisable that the invoice be deemed “inexpedient to legislate.”
Senators adopted that suggestion on Thursday by a unanimous voice vote. With each payments killed by the Senate, leisure hashish legalization efforts in New Hampshire are doubtless useless till subsequent 12 months.