Hopes of legalization in New Hampshire this year appear to have faded. Members of the House of Representatives, led by Rep. Rebecca McWilliams, filed a tax and regulate bill last month that would allow possession of up to an ounce of pot and home cultivation of up to six plants. Unfortunately, legislators on the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee voted to kill the bill before it got started.
After hearing testimony from both sides, the committee members decided to retain the bill, meaning that legalization is off the table for the rest of the year and cannot be reconsidered by the committee until 2022.
A separate bill to allow home cultivation was also retained by the committee.
New Hampshire representatives have been down this road before. The House has introduced legislation to legalize marijuana every year since 2014, only to be shot down each time.
Pro-pot legislation faces an uphill battle in New Hampshire, as both the State Senate and Gov. Chris Sununu oppose legalization.
Nonetheless, McWilliams refuses to give up hope and urges lawmakers to work toward a legalization plan that “could potentially get to the two-thirds vote needed to override the governor’s veto.”
However, New Hampshire is still a long ways away from the opportunity to face down a veto from the governor.
