New Hampshire’s latest bite at the legalization apple

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New Hampshire’s latest bite at the legalization apple

Driving the news: A bill passed last week by the New Hampshire House of Representatives, which is now being considered in the state’s Senate, is facing the prospect of being vetoed by Governor Chris Sununu. 

Some context: New Hampshire is the lone New England state, and one of the lone holdouts in the Northeast, that does not yet have legal cannabis. 

Cultivated hosted one of the co-sponsors of the House bill in March, State Rep. Anita Burroughs, who said, “We’re seeing a conga line of cars going over the border everyday to get product.”

And, other Republican governors like Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin have vetoed legislature-passed legalization bills in recent weeks, too. 

What they’re saying now: The chief architect of the bill, Republican Rep. Erica Layon, pushed back on the Governor’s office after the bill passed the House, saying, “The bill that passed the House reflects the Governor’s guidelines as I understood them, until his last minute embrace of a franchise model…I made dozens of attempts to meet with the Governor and his staff to get into the policy details, but the best meeting I achieved was a walk-and-talk with him through the halls of the Capitol.”

What’s next: The bill is now being considered by the New Hampshire State Senate. 

If changes are made that would garner the governor’s signature, then New Hampshire could be added to the list of legal states. If not, expect it to be kicked further down the road. 

Join us: On tomorrow’s Cultivated Live on LinkedIn and YouTube, we’ll host leaders of the New Hampshire cannabis industry and legislators working on legalization. Follow us on LinkedIn and subscribe to YouTube so you don’t miss it. 10 am Eastern.  

-JR

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