New Hampshire House Passes Bills To Let Patients Grow Medical Marijuana At Home And Annul Past Cannabis Convictions

In addition to passing a Republican-led bill to legalize marijuana for adults, New Hampshire’s House of Representatives on Thursday also approved measures that would annul certain criminal records around cannabis and allow medical marijuana patients to grow the plant at home.

HB 196, from Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D), would annul past arrests and convictions around simple marijuana possession. Annulment would cover offenses for possession of up to two ounces of cannabis and five grams of hashish or “an amount of cannabis that is legal under New Hampshire law for adults 21 and older to possess,” whichever is higher.

The legislation cleared the House on the consent calendar along with several other unrelated measures.

The other bill to pass the House on Thursday, HB 53, from Rep. Wendy Thomas (D), would allow state-registered patients and caregivers to grow marijuana at home. Specifically, qualified individuals could grow up to three mature plants and three immature plants, as well as 12 seedlings. They could also possess up to eight ounces of usable cannabis from those plants and and any amount of unusable cannabis. Landlords would be able to prohibit cultivation in rented properties.

It’s the third time Thomas has introduced such a measure during her time as a lawmaker. Last month she told Marijuana Moment that the bill would “most likely pass the House,” but added: “After that—who knows?”

The latest version passed on a 328-42 vote and now heads to the Senate, which has historically been less supportive of cannabis reform than the House.

As for the legalization bill that won House approval this week, that measure—HB 75, from Rep. Kevin Verville (R)—would remove state penalties around cannabis-related conduct for adults 21 and older, but it would not establish a licensed commercial market or a broader regulatory scheme.

The proposal includes no limits on marijuana possession or cultivation. And despite its lack of a regulatory structure for a commercial industry, it would carve out marijuana from the state’s laws against illicit drug sales. State-registered patients or caregivers could, however, have their registration ID cards revoked for selling marijuana no people outside the medical system.

Minors would continue to be barred from using marijuana under the bill. People under 21 would be guilty of a violation if found possessing or using the substance, and anyone under 18 would be referred to a screening for substance use disorders. Adults who use marijuana in a public place would also be guilty of a violation.

Even if Verville’s simple legalization bill proceeds to the desk of New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R), she’s signaled she too will veto the proposal. A former U.S. senator and state attorney general, Ayotte said repeatedly on the campaign trail last year that she would oppose efforts at adult-use legalization.

Two other legalization bills are also currently in play in the state, though they also face long odds.

HB 198, from Rep. Jared Sullivan (D), would also take a simple, unregulated approach. It would legalize only limited personal cultivation and possession of marijuana without licensing a commercial market. A separate bill from Sullivan, HB 186, would both legalize personal use and establish a regulated market of state-licensed marijuana businesses.

The House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee on Thursday considered HB 186 last month, though it’s currently being held in committee so lawmakers can focus on Sullivan’s simpler legalization bill.

New Hampshire lawmakers nearly passed legislation last session that would have legalized and regulated marijuana for adults—a proposal that then-Gov. Chris Sununu (R) had indicated he’d support. That Republican-sponsored measure had bipartisan support in both legislative chambers, but House Democrats narrowly voted to table it at the last minute, taking issue with the proposal’s state-controlled franchise model, which would have given the state unprecedented sway over retail stores and consumer prices.

A poll from last June found that almost two thirds (65 percent) of New Hampshire residents supported legalizing marijuana. Nearly that same share of residents (61 percent) said at the time that they also supported the failed legalization bill, HB 1633.

Lawmakers this week also considered a separate bill from Verville that would remove criminal penalties for possession, purchase, transport or use of psilocybin by adults 21 and older. Last year, a different New Hampshire House committee declined to move forward with a bill from Verville that would have established a state-regulated therapeutic psychedelic program modeled after the current medical marijuana system.

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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.