A commission established by New Hampshire lawmakers has failed to come to an agreement on if and how the state should go about legalizing recreational marijuana.
In August Governor Sununu signed into law legislation creating a commission designed to prepare the state for the legalization of marijuana and give recommendations on how lawmakers can most effectively achieve that goal. The commission has now concluded its meetings without coming to any agreement, with members often sparring over specific details.
The chairman of the commission, Senator Tim Lang (R), put forth a framework that would see the state operating marijuana retail outlets, with products taxed at 15%.
“So, this is a public-private partnership”, said Senator Lang. “The state is going to be the regulator and controller, and then the retail side will be a private partnership with another organization.”
Despite this plan, the commissions voted in favor of issuing a report discussing the potential of establishing state-operate marijuana stores, without actually recommending the state do so.
“There is a clear majority saying we don’t want to move this forward,” said Representative Tim Cahill (R). The committee voted 7 to 2 to issue the report.
Representative Susan Homola (R) called this “cheesy maneuvering”.
Despite the committees lack of consensus, Senator Daryl Abbas (R) said “Trust me, someone is going to file something”.
Following the committee’s vote Senator Lang said “This isn’t the end. We are just getting to the beginning.”
In April New Hampshire’s House of Representatives voted 272 to 109 to pass a bill that would have legalized recreational marijuana for everyone 21 and older. The bill, introduced by Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R) and Minority Leader Matthew Wilhelm (D), failed to advance in the Senate.
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