- 2013
- ben leubsdorf
- concord monitor
- criminal justice
- Industrial Hemp
- Legalization
- New Hampshire
- Political
- public safety committee
- Recreational
By Steve ElliottHemp News
A bill which would have legalized marijuana in New Hampshire died in the House on Wednesday without any debate. The Democratic-majority House voted 239-112 to kill the bill. On the same day, the House passed a bill to legalize industrial hemp.
It wasn't a party-line vote, reports Ben Leubsdorf of the Concord Monitor. While 135 Democrats and 104 Republicans voted to kill the legalization bill, 61 Democrats and 51 Republicans voted to pass it.
The legislation would have removed all references to marijuana from the state's drug control laws as of January 1, 2014. Marijuana would remain illegal under federal law, but New Hampshire would have followed Colorado and Washington state, where voters in November approved ballot measures to allow the use of marijuana by adults 21 and older.
The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, on a 12-8 vote, recommended the full House kill the legalization bill. Opponents complained that it would run counter to federal law, while supporters pointed out that cannabis prohibition is not working.
The hemp legalization bill was approved by the full House on a voice vote. Hemp can be used to make rope, fabric, paper, fuel and other products. Like marijuana, it is a variety of the cannabis plant.
A similar hemp bill passed the House last year, but died after the Senate sent it to "interim study."
The New Hampshire House will consider two more marijuana bills later this month.
One would decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, but the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee inexplicably voted, 12-6, to recommend the full House kill that bill.
The second bill would legalize the medicinal use of cannabis for terminal and seriously ill patients. The Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee endorsed it on a 14-1 vote.
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