Marijuana Moment: New Hampshire House Passes Scaled-Back Psilocybin Bill, While Rejecting Measure To Protect Medical Marijuana Patients’ Gun Rights

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The New Hampshire House of Representatives has approved an amended bill to establish a psilocybin advisory board to study pathways to allow patients to access the novel therapy—though lawmakers separately rejected an effort to revive separate legislation aimed at protecting gun rights for medical marijuana patients.

Members took up the psilocybin and cannabis measures on Thursday, significantly scaling back the bipartisan psychedelics bill from Rep. Buzz Scherr (D) that would have in its initial form given certain patients legal access to psilocybin-assisted therapy. The amended version to create an advisory group to explore the issue passed the full chamber and now heads to the Senate for consideration.

The medical marijuana and firearms legislation from Rep. Tom Mannion (R), meanwhile, was briefly considered on the floor, but a motion to take the bill off the table failed in a 81-270 vote. That proposal would make it so a person’s status as a registered medical cannabis patient in the state would not infringe on their right to purchase or possess guns under state law.

The revised psilocybin bill represents a setback for advocates, as the House passed the initial version last month that would have created a regulatory pathway for patients with certain conditions to access the psychedelic for therapeutic use through a program overseen by the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS).

Under House rules, the measure had to go back to the Finance Committee and then pass again in the full chamber in order to advance to the Senate. The committee deemed the bill inexpedient to legislate, and when it got the floor for the second time on Thursday, members overturned that recommendation and then adopted the major change that only contemplates a potential regulated access model instead, with an advisory board tasked with studying the issue. That dialed-back version ultimately passed.

“The medical community has always recognized that patients exist with serious conditions that are very resistant to effective treatment,” a statement of purpose says. “Recently, research has begun to show that certain of those patients have had positive results with the closely supervised use of psilocybin for treatment.”

“The purpose of this act is to study the feasibility of the creation of a carefully monitored and closely supervised setting in which an approved medical provider can treat a carefully chosen patient with appropriate doses of psilocybin which that same provider has produced for a medical intervention,” the bill, HB 1809, says.

On marijuana reform, the legislation from Mannion and bipartisan cosponsors, HB 1446, would preserve gun rights for medical cannabis patients in the state, reaffirming their right under the state constitution even if they continue to face a federal ban on possession or buying firearms persists. The U.S. Supreme Court is actively reviewing a case that could lift that prohibition after hearing oral arguments last month.

“This bill ensures that our therapeutic cannabis patients are no longer treated as second-class citizens or differently from other patients being treated with different medications,” Rep. Billie Butler (D) said before the vote on the motion.

Also this month, New Hampshire lawmakers 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.

One bill from Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D) 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.”

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.

Another cannabis legalization bill that didn’t get a floor vote in the House by deadline was 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.

Sullivan 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.

The House this month further declined to 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 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.

The post New Hampshire House Passes Scaled-Back Psilocybin Bill, While Rejecting Measure To Protect Medical Marijuana Patients’ Gun Rights appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

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