Representatives made case for, against marijuana legalization at Senate panel hearing
(The Center Square) – One state elected official called cannabis prohibition in New Hampshire a fool’s errand. At the same time, another said it should remain illegal as there is no field sobriety test for the federally listed Schedule I drug.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on House Bill 360 on Thursday, which calls for legalizing marijuana for adults 21 and older in the Granite State.
New Hampshire is the only New England state that has not fully legalized marijuana. However, the state decriminalized the possession of up to 3/4th of an ounce in 2017. Marijuana is legal in Canada.
The bill calls not only for legalization and use for adults in the state but also for expunging marijuana-related criminal offenses. Marijuana would remain illegal for those under 21, and public consumption would remain illegal.
Rep. Kevin Verville, R-Rockingham, one of the bill’s primary sponsors, said the bill came to the Senate following a “resounding” 210-160 voice vote and enjoys “broad, bipartisan support.”
He said decriminalization of marijuana has led to fewer criminals, and that was “good news.” He told the committee that the drug was not an amphetamine, barbiturate, narcotic, or opioid, nor was it methamphetamine or cocaine, crack, or heroin.
“Those are highly addictive and dangerous and potentially lethal drugs,” Verville testified. “Cannabis is not that. This is not about gateway drugs. If the discussion is to revolve around gateway drugs, then we should be discussing caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol.”
Verville said if the committee was discussing gateway drugs, then New Hampshire should pull out of the liquor business “upon which the state holds a monopoly” as alcoholism “destroys countless families and lives each year” even as the state benefits financially.
“We need to face the very basic fact that prohibition of cannabis has failed,” Verville said. “Cannabis is more potent, less expensive, and more readily available now than in any time in history. The black market has found the way, and the black market is thriving relative to cannabis.
“So what will happen if we don’t pass this common-sense bill into law?” he asked the committee. “There’s a theme here. Nothing. If we don’t pass this bill into law, nothing will happen. The black market will continue business as usual.”
Verville said the free market, and not the state, should handle adult-use marijuana.
“It seems a bit hypocritical that we would allow the state to now profit from a business that has spent almost the better part of a century trying to destroy,” he said.
Rep. Margaret Drye, R-Sullivan, said that the bill should not pass as the state currently does not have a standard for impairment in place for drug and alcohol-induced accidents.
She said that she worked as an Emergency Medical Technician and wrote a piece for a Vermont newspaper in 2016 following a fatality in a vehicle crash. At that time, Drye said, the article focused on a hypothetical regarding marijuana being legalized before a legal standard for impairment was established.
Drye said that alcohol has an impairment level set at 0.08%, which is determined through blood testing. However, she said, “It doesn’t work that way with marijuana.”
“There’s no legal standard for impairment,” Drye said. “We do not have a legal standard of impairment. Please vote House Bill 360 inexpedient to legislate.”
