Marijuana Moment: New Hampshire House Lets Marijuana Legalization And Psilocybin Therapy Bills Die Without A Vote

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The New Hampshire House of Representatives has effectively killed bills to legalize marijuana and allow the therapeutic use of psilocybin by not bringing them up for floor votes ahead of a key deadline. Meanwhile, separate legislation on those topics has already advanced.

As legislators continue to push for a variety of drug policy reform proposals, with mixed results so far this session, the House on Thursday adjourned without bringing up scheduled measures to let voters decide on adult-use marijuana legalization as well as separate bills to end prohibition of low-level cannabis possession and give adults access to psilocybin as a novel treatment alternative.

Here’s an overview of the cannabis and psychedelics bills that were not considered by the House:

CACR 19

The House failed to consider a bill from Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D) that would have put a constitutional amendment on the state ballot to let voters decide if they want to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older, allowing them to “possess a modest amount of cannabis for their personal use.”

If enacted, the constitutional amendment would have appeared on the November state ballot.

The the text of what would have gone before voters on the November ballot under CACR 19 reads:

“Are you in favor of amending the first part of the constitution by inserting after article 2-b a new article to read as follows:

[Art.] 2-c. [Adult possession of cannabis.] All adults who are 21 years of age or older shall have the right to possess a modest amount of cannabis intended for their personal consumption.”

Members of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee took up that legislation in January. It was ultimately deemed inexpedient to legislate by a majority of the panel, but in New Hampshire all bills still have the opportunity to advance to the floor even with negative committee recommendations.

A motion from Rep. Alissandra Murray (D) to special order the legislation for consideration by the body before its adjournment on Thursday failed by a vote of 115-220.

In a minority report, Murray, clerk of the committee, wrote that the legislation “returns the question of cannabis legalization to the people of New Hampshire, where it belongs. It does not itself legalize cannabis; rather, it allows voters to decide whether adults age 21 and over may legally possess a modest amount.”

“The amendment intentionally avoids specifying possession limits, recognizing that such details are better addressed in statute than embedded in the constitution, where they are more difficult to amend,” she said, adding that polling shows overwhelming public support for legalization in New Hampshire. “It is high time we respect the will of the people and end the continued criminalization of adults for conduct that a strong majority no longer believes should be a crime.”

Rep. Terry Roy (R), chair of the panel, wrote in the majority report that the panel “recommends CACR 19 as inexpedient to legislate because embedding a federal crime into the New Hampshire Constitution is a reckless act of legal entrapment that endangers the very liberties we are sworn to protect. While some frame this as ‘respecting the will of the people,’ they are actually inviting Granite Staters into a ‘federal trap’ where exercising a state-granted ‘right’ results in the automatic and permanent forfeiture of their Second Amendment rights.”

“Beyond the constitutional risk, we must consider the professional doors this closes: any use authorized by this amendment remains an automatic disqualifier for federal security clearances in New Hampshire’s high-paying defense sector, as well as for military service and law enforcement,” he said. “A truly pro-liberty stance requires protecting our citizens from federal overreach, not baiting them into a conflict that strips them of their right to bear arms and their economic future.”

HB 1235-FN

Another cannabis legalization bill that didn’t get a floor vote in the House on Thursday is HB 1235-FN from Rep. Jared Sullivan (D) and five bipartisan cosponsors. The measure was also designated as inexpedient to legislate by the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

Under the legislation, HB 1235, adults 21 and older would have been allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis flower and up to 10 grams of marijuana concentrates. The proposal would not have created a system of regulated commercial sales, however.

In the majority report from the committee, the chairman reiterated his belief that legalization supporters are mischaracterizing the reform as a personal liberties issue.

“The promise of ‘personal freedom’ is a hollow one when it results in the systematic closing of doors for New Hampshire’s young people and the erosion of our fundamental constitutional rights,” Roy said. “We must look at actual outcomes: since legalization, neighboring states have seen a 15 percent increase in workers’ compensation claims and a 55 percent higher rate of industrial accidents among users, a trend that would cripple New Hampshire’s productivity and drive up insurance costs for small businesses.”

“Most critically, this bill creates a devastating ‘federal trap’ for the thousands of Granite Staters employed by our state’s thriving defense sector, which remains a primary economic driver with average annual wages exceeding $111,000,” he said. “We refuse to trade New Hampshire’s safety, economic future, and the Second Amendment rights of our citizens for a policy that offers only the illusion of liberty while stripping away the keys to a successful future and increasing road fatalities by 17.3 percent as seen in our neighboring states.”

Rep. Buzz Scherr (D) said in the committee’s minority report that the proposed legislation “recognizes that New Hampshire residents are notably in favor of such an approach and that all of New Hampshire’s surrounding states have taken some version of this approach.”

Sullivan, the bill sponsor, also filed separate legislation this session that would have legalized adult-use cannabis through a regulated sales model, with additional provisions to provide relief for those who’ve previously been criminalized over marijuana. That bill already passed the House this year, but it was then promptly killed in the Senate.

HB 1796-FN

The House on Thursday also did not take up a Republican-led bill from Rep. Michael Moffett (R) that would have permitted the regulated use of psilocybin in a medically supervised setting.

To qualify for psilocybin treatment, a patient 21 or older would have needed to be diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, substance misuse disorder, a terminal illness requiring end-of-life care or any other condition authorized by the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

There would have been specific guidelines for facilities where the psychedelic could be administered, including security requirements and other safety protocols such as ensuring there are rescue medications on site if a patient experiences an adverse event.

The legislation, HB 1796, would have also established a Therapeutic Psilocybin Treatment Fund, which would have been funded by revenue from licensing taxes and fees. The fund would have gone toward studies into the possibility of expanding the program to include additional psychedelics in the program.

Rep. Tim Hartnett (D)—on behalf of the majority of the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee that deemed the psilocybin bill inexpedient to legislate—said in a report that the measure contains “several insurmountable challenges,” including “significant financial challenges in staffing and related costs” for DHHS.

“Second, the bill presupposes existing expertise and related capacities already exist within the NH government,” the report says. “Third, psilocybin has great promise and even though significant anecdotal evidence exists on its therapeutic benefit, compelling confirmatory scientific evidence remains early in its development.”

“Further, beyond scientific studies, the experience of actual day-to-day-mainstream clinic operations are even less well understood—the ‘how do we run a clinic’ questions of staff recruitment and training, program admissions, management of patient emergencies etc.—are in their infancy. News reports from other jurisdictions suggest there is much to be learned about running and regulating clinics providing treatments using this medication.”

A minority report from Rep. Yury Polozov (R) says the legislation “provides an evidence-based treatment option for patients who have not responded to conventional therapies.”

“Emerging research supports psilocybin’s potential benefits for mental health conditions when used in controlled therapeutic settings. The bill promotes public health and harm reduction,” the said. “It offers renewed hope for life to those in crisis, as suicide remains a major cause of death, particularly among veterans who often suffer from treatment-resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Last month, the House approved a separate bipartisan bill to legalize the regulated use of psilocybin for medical purposes. It is now scheduled to be considered by the House Finance Committee on Tuesday before a final floor vote later this month that could move it to the Senate.

The legislation from Scherr would create a regulatory pathway for patients with certain conditions to access the psychedelic for therapeutic use through a program overseen by DHHS.

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Meanwhile, Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) has already threatened to veto any marijuana legalization bill that reaches her desk, though the constitutional amendment proposal would not require gubernatorial action.

The governor said in August that her position on the reform would not change even if the federal government moved forward with rescheduling the plant. Since then, President Donald Trump has directed the attorney general to finalize the process of moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

At a committee meeting last year, Sullivan ultimately made a persuasive argument for advancing his legalization bill, pointing out that the House has repeatedly passed similar legislation and that the chamber should stand its ground, forcing the Senate and governor to again go on record with their opposition to a policy popular among voters.

“We know where it’s going to go. Let’s send a virtue signal,” Sullivan said. “Let them be the ones that are pissing off voters who care about this.”

In the Senate, the Judiciary Committee in January also took up a bill from Sen. Donovan Fenton (D) that would allow adults over the age of 21 to legally possess up to four ounces of cannabis in plant form and 20 grams of concentrated cannabis products, as well as other products containing no more than 2,000 milligrams of THC.

Last June, the New Hampshire Senate voted to scrap compromise legislation that would have lowered the state’s criminal penalty for first-time psilocybin possession while also creating mandatory minimum sentences around fentanyl.

As originally introduced, the legislation would have completely removed penalties around obtaining, purchasing, transporting, possessing or using psilocybin, effectively legalizing it on a noncommercial basis. However a House committee amended the bill before unanimously advancing it last March.

Image element courtesy of Kristie Gianopulos.

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