NH House to vote on a bill to tax & regulate cannabis

General Discussion
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#1

A subcommittee of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee voted 3-2 to recommend “ought to pass” on HB 656, a bill to tax & regulate cannabis.
Voting FOR the measure were subcommittee chairman Frank Sapareto, R-Derry, Beth Rodd, D-Bradford, and Renny Cushing, D-Hampton.
Voting AGAINST were David Welch, R-Kingston, and Kate Murray, D-New Castle.

The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee will hold an Executive Session on Nov 14, with the full House likely to vote on the recommendation in early January.

HB656 would do the following if passed by the General Court:
I. Legalizes the personal use of marijuana by persons 21 years of age or older.
II. Legalizes the cultivation, possession, and use of hemp.
III. Authorizes the licensing of marijuana wholesale, retail, cultivation, and testing facilities.
IV. Imposes a tax on the sale of marijuana.

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#2

Why is nobody fighting hard for heroin legalization? It also comes from a plant!

#3

If they’re gonna tax it, they need to make sure the NH tax burden is lower than MA and ME.

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#4

More important than any tax rate is who is allowed to produce.

Home cultivation is primary. Everything else is secondary.

77-H:2 Tax Imposed.
I. A tax shall be levied upon marijuana sold or otherwise transferred by a marijuana cultivation facility to a marijuana product manufacturing facility or to a retail marijuana store at a rate of $30 per ounce of marijuana flowers or proportionate part thereof and $15 per ounce on all parts of marijuana other than marijuana flowers. The department shall collect such tax and adjust the rate annually to account for inflation or deflation based on the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Standards, Consumer Price Index.
II. A tax shall be levied upon marijuana sold or otherwise transferred by a retail marijuana store at a rate of 15 percent of the sale price. The department shall collect such tax as provided in this chapter.

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#5

there is a bill that would reduce the penalties for “certain controlled drugs”… text is not yet available, so not sure what all is included, though I’ve been told it’s using text similar to what was recently adopted in Oregon

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#6

They have medical opiates. In this country they are not hard to get, but it’s not like that everywhere.

On the cannabis side, I would estimate 75% of my customers are recreational users, and 25% are medical users.

#7

Let’s be real. Neither opioids nor cannabinoids are a magic bullet for pain, and I can’t write code when medicated by either one. However, I trust cannabis by far over opioids when I’m not coding, to “take the edge” off my chronic pain (which has become regular, but with better nutrition, not as severe.)

Thus, we all live in pain, if we do have it.

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#8

Ditto @wtfk

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