Proposal to legalize marijuana in N.H. advances without study commission’s endorsement

Members of the commission that met for months to chart a potential path for New Hampshire to legalize recreational cannabis in 2024 failed to unify around their proposed legislative language.

The group decided during its final meeting on Monday to submit a report without recommendation. The decision is nonbinding, so lawmakers could still use the commission’s work as the basis for a successful bill in the coming session.

“Someone is going to file something,” said Senator Daryl A. Abbas, a Republican from Salem, who serves as the commission’s chair.

Abbas told The Boston Globe the majority of the commission members who were present at the end of Monday’s meeting oppose recreational cannabis in any form, so he wasn’t surprised by their decision. He endorsed the commission’s proposed language and said he looks forward to a constructive legislative process.

“If both chambers work together toward a compromise, then the votes should be there,” he said.

Some proponents of legalization cited Monday’s developments as a promising sign that New Hampshire, the “Live Free Or Die” state, might soon put an end to its status as New England’s island of cannabis prohibition. Others weren’t so sure.

“I’m not very optimistic that a deal will be reached,” said Senator Becky Whitley, a Democrat from Hopkinton, after Monday’s meeting.

Whitley said she wishes Abbas had provided more structure for the commission, and she said Governor Chris Sununu has a bad habit of swooping in to “drop bombs” on the process by seeking substantive changes at the last minute. That was Sununu’s move when the Senate took up a legalization bill in May, and it was his move again right before Monday’s commission meeting, she said.

Multiple members pressed for newly introduced changes on Monday that they said the governor’s office had requested. A spokesperson for the governor’s office did not answer questions Monday from the Globe about Sununu’s input on these changes. Instead, the spokesperson provided a statement reaffirming Sununu’s openness to discussing a franchise model and his commitment to veto any legislation that departs from the framework he outlined.

Despite her skepticism, Whitley said legalization is still possible in 2024 and needed.

“The political will is there to get something accomplished, particularly if as elected officials we are listening to our constituents, who overwhelmingly support legalization,” she said. “I don’t think there’s a more popular issue in the state right now.”

The 19-member commission, which is up against a Dec. 1 deadline to finish its work, has been hearing testimony and refining a proposal to establish a state-run franchise model that could win the support of Sununu, who signaled in May his openness to an approach that would give the state control over marijuana distribution, marketing, and more.

While the New Hampshire House has approved legalization bills in the past, the Senate has repeatedly rejected them, with the bulk of the opposition coming from Republicans. But two GOP senators, Abbas and Timothy P. Lang Sr. of Sanbornton — who voted in May to kill the most recent legalization bill — on Monday expressed a favorable view of the commission’s proposal.

Their support fueled optimism from some proponents of legalization, like Frank Knaack, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, who served on the commission.

Knaack said Abbas and Lang are among the GOP’s “power brokers” on this issue, so their support seems to be a clear signal that this type of bill could succeed. The lack of a recommendation from the commission likely won’t have any practical impact on the extensive legislative work to come, he said.

“The hurdles have always been in the Senate, and there seems to be I think a real strong recognition that this has to be the year that we finally end marijuana prohibition in New Hampshire . . . I think the votes are there,” he added.

Several changes to the proposal were introduced on Monday, including some that members attributed to direct requests from Sununu’s office.

David J. Mara, a former Manchester police chief who has long advised the Sununu administration on addiction-related matters, said the governor’s office was “adamant” that the proposal limit the number of retail cannabis stores to 15 statewide. The earlier proposed cap had been more than quadruple that amount because it was based on the number of New Hampshire Liquor and Wine Outlet stores.

“I think this is something that we’ve got to move slowly on,” Mara said. “We’ve got to make sure safety of the citizenry is taken care of.”

Lang said the governor’s office had requested language to prohibit cannabis franchisees from engaging in lobbying or contributing funds to any entity engaged in lobbying. Multiple members expressed concerns that such a provision would violate freedom of speech for the privately owned businesses, so the commission decided to leave that language out of the proposal but include an addendum, so lawmakers can discuss the idea further.

The overall proposal calls for a state-run system in which individually owned retail cannabis stores would act as franchisees and the New Hampshire Liquor Commission serves as franchisor. Rather than collecting a sales tax, the franchisees would pay 15 percent of their gross sales to the state.