Five bills to be heard Thursday, one on Friday

The New Hampshire House of Representatives kicked off the new year by narrowly voting down a 2021 bill to legalize cannabis and create a regulated market (HB 237)  and then overwhelmingly approving a different bill (HB 629) legalizing home possession and cultivation. HB 629 now heads to the far more challenging Senate.

Next week, the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee will be holding hearings on six different bills to improve cannabis policies, including proposals to kick legalization to voters.

Last year, the committee, chaired by Daryl Abbas, recommended killing legalization bills, but now Abbas has proposed his own vision of legalization, HB 1598. However, his model is unfeasible due to federal law. It would only allow cannabis to be sold through state-run stores. Until federal law changes, that’s a non-starter: states cannot require staff to commit federal felonies by selling cannabis. Doing so would be preempted.

The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee will also consider three resolutions (CACRs) to refer cannabis legalization to voters, via a constitutional amendment. They each require 60% in both the House and Senate, and then two-thirds of the popular vote.

Both the legalization bills and the three CACRs will receive hearings on Thursday, January 20 in person at the State House, Reps Hall (107 North Main Street, Concord) — with the first hearing scheduled at 9:30 a.m. on Abbas’ state-run monopoly and the last one scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m.

The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee will also hold a hearing on Friday, January 21 at 1:45 p.m. at Legislative Office Building (33 N State Street, Concord), Rooms 202-204 on prohibiting law enforcement from using the scent of cannabis as probable cause for a search. Cannabis has already been decriminalized in New Hampshire. Law enforcement shouldn’t be able to invade personal privacy — and initiate a risky and insulting stop — over the supposed scent of a plant that has been decriminalized.

If you’re not comfortable attending in person but want to make your voice heard on any or all of these bills, you can email comments to HouseCriminalJusticeandPublicSafety@leg.state.nh.us.

For the full list of bills, a short summary, and the times of each hearing, check out this summary from the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy.

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[caption id="attachment_5935" align="alignright" width="180"] Cathy Jordan[/caption]

Yesterday, the Miami Herald published an article discussing a recent poll that shows a majority of Florida voters support medical marijuana. The article specifically mentioned the Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act and talked about how it could affect the gubernatorial race in 2014.

Apparently, certain folks in law enforcement didn’t like what they saw.

In a bizarre twist that some see as more than just a coincidence, Cathy Jordan, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease and for whom the bill is named, had her home raided by Manatee County sheriffs just hours after the article was published.

Deputies entered the property, claiming they had probable cause to search based on a tip and found two mature marijuana plants and 21 immature seedlings growing inside.

A spokesman for the sheriff’s office claimed deputies had no knowledge of the pending legislation, and that they have no desire to get involved in the publicity of such a discussion.

Luckily, no arrests were made, but the case is being reviewed by the state attorney’s office.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Jeff Clemens, was not amused:

Clemens said Monday he was angry about the raid on the Jordan house.

“Do we want to be the kind of state that raids the home of a woman in a wheelchair in order to enforce outdated laws?” Clemens said Monday night.

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