(The Center Square) – A bill legalizing marijuana for adults over the age of 21 is headed for the New Hampshire Senate.
House Bill 639 was ratified through a 272-109 vote late Thursday. The bill, co-sponsored by Republican Rep. Jason Obsorne and Democratic Rep. Matt Wilhelm, is also supported by a broad coalition of members of the marijuana industry along with civil rights and policy groups.
New Hampshire is the lone New England state that does not have legal adult-use marijuana. Canada legalized marijuana in 2018.
“I am pleased to see New Hampshire take a step toward relieving gangsters and thugs from control of this market, keeping dangerous untested products away from consumers, and protecting children from harmful age-inappropriate products,” Osborne said in a statement.
In recent years, according to a release, legalization efforts in New Hampshire have fallen short in the Senate while gaining approval from the House of Representatives.
“With the decisive passage of HB639, the New Hampshire House has sent a strong message that this is the year to legalize adult-use cannabis in the Granite State,” Wilhelm said in a statement. “Every year we fail to legalize marijuana, the state wastes valuable resources and ruins the lives of many young and poor Granite Staters by enforcing failed prohibition.
“New Hampshire remains the only state in New England that has failed to legalize cannabis, while our neighbors benefit from increased revenue and their cannabis users benefit from safer testing and regulation of the product. Legalization of adult possession of small amounts of cannabis is the right thing to do for New Hampshire and we must get it done in 2023.”
The bill, which is now headed to the Senate for consideration and possible vote, is supported by Republican Sen. Keith Murphy and Democratic senators Becky Whitley and Donovan Fenton, according to a release.
“Prohibition has proven over and over to be a failed public policy,” Murphy said in a statement. “It is especially ineffective when all of our surrounding states have already legalized marijuana possession and use. Investigating and prosecuting cannabis possession is a terrible waste of tax dollars. For these reasons, I am encouraging my Senate colleagues to support the bill.”
