House lawmakers seem determined to pass marijuana legalization this session despite an uphill battle in the Senate. The New Hampshire House Ways & Means Committee recently made revisions to the bill to legalize cannabis. If the house votes to support the legislation it can move onto the senate. Those revisions were not unanimous. The bill only cleared the committee on a 12-10 vote with no support from Democrat lawmakers.
The revised bill would prohibit edible marijuana sales to the general public. However, state-run stores could still be able to sell edibles to state registered medical patients. State Division of Public Health Services Patricia Tilley told the committee that it wouldn’t be fair to have state run stores compete with medical dispensaries in this way. Eliminating edible marijuana was not taken into account for the original revenue projection which would suffer as a result of the restriction.
Opposition in the Senate has lead some House lawmakers to file amendments to legalize personal marijuana use in the New Hampshire constitution. One such amendment failed to pass with two others tabled for another time.
Find more from the New Hampshire Union Leader here: https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/state/state-pot-monopoly-survives-test-concern-over-med-pot-shops/article_1206d891-9b18-5283-ad2e-fb9b568614dc.html?
