Once again, the New Hampshire Senate has tabled a House bill to legalize marijuana. If HB 75, the bill for cannabis use and possession for anyone age 21 and older in N.H., does not get taken off the table by the end of the legislative session, the bill will die.
According to Seacoastonline, when speaking to his House colleagues, Rep. Terry Roy of Deerfield said they have tried 50 different bills over the last few years to try and legalize marijuana in N.H.
Seriously, how many times is the House going to pass a bill to legalize weed only for the Senate to turn it down? I am surprised those who continue to vote in support of the bills have not yet given up.
N.H. continues to be the only New England state in which recreational marijuana use is illegal. As you and I can assume, anyone looking to purchase marijuana will probably just take their business elsewhere, which only means N.H. is missing out on a whole market.
While medical marijuana is legal in N.H., there are still significantly fewer people who can purchase it in the Granite State. Not only are we missing out on the marijuana market, we are criminally punishing those who possess or partake in it. That results in a lot of people arrested for doing something that is legal in all surrounding states. At that point, they might as well just move to Massachusetts, Maine or Vermont.
The argument that Republican senators continue to make is that by legalizing recreational use of marijuana for the 21+ crowd, it encourages those who are underage by setting the example. This is most definitely not true; if an underage person wants to consume marijuana, they are probably already doing so. It’s like saying having the drinking age as 21 incentivizes minors to drink more, and alcohol consumption has been legal for a while.
If N.H. were to legalize marijuana, the only thing that would change is the market and the profit from sales. We would benefit from the legalization by taking back customers from other New England states and no one would have to drive over an hour to get their weed.
I am sure there are still people growing/selling it illegally, thus putting themselves in a place to be arrested, which I am sure they do not want. Plus, prisons will become overcrowded with all these stoners getting arrested all the time. We are simply wasting time and effort by arresting them.
Legislators can argue about the harmful effects of marijuana all they want, but if it’s used medicinally, clearly its positive effects outweigh the negative. There’s also scientific studies to back that up.
It’s clear the N.H. people support the legalization of marijuana, so let’s stop wasting time and get it done already.
Madelyn Marabella can be contacted at
mmarabella@kscequinox.com
