New Hampshire Senate Panel Rejects Cannabis Legalization Bill
April 3, 2025
A New Hampshire Senate legislative committee this week voted to recommend that the full chamber reject a cannabis legalization bill approved by the House of Representatives last month. The Senate Judiciary Committee marked the bill as “inexpedient to legislate” (ITL) at a hearing on Tuesday, likely killing the measure in the Senate, according to a report from online cannabis news source Marijuana Moment.
The measure, HB 75 from Republican state Rep. Kevin Verville, will still move to the Senate floor for a vote. The chamber would then be able to approve the bill or follow the Judiciary Committee’s recommendation to kill the legislation.
The cannabis legalization bill was approved by the New Hampshire House of Representatives via a voice vote in February. If passed, the bill would remove criminal penalties for some offenses related to possessing and using cannabis by adults aged 21 and older. The measure would not create a regulated cannabis industry or legalize sales of recreational marijuana. Public consumption of cannabis would remain illegal under the legislation.
Cannabis would still be illegal for those under the age of 21. Those under age 21 caught using or possessing marijuana would be guilty of a violation. Minors under age 18 found to be possessing or using cannabis would be referred for substance use disorders screening.
House Lawmaker Makes The Case For Cannabis Legalization
Prior to the House of Representatives vote on HB 75, Democratic state Rep. Jodi Newell spoke in favor of the legislation, saying “the overwhelming majority of Granite Staters who implore this body to end the criminalization of cannabis, to end the fear of unnecessary disruption to people’s lives in the event that they find cannabis to be their nighttime sleep aid, their mood enhancer or their morning pick-me-up.”
“I stand asking you once again to pass legislation that would entrust our citizens over the age of 21 with the responsibility to consume cannabis, if they so choose, without fear of retribution from the state,” Newell said.
Newell told her colleagues that her husband died of a heroin overdose and that alcohol killed her brother, “but somehow we still maintain that our citizens cannot be trusted to consume cannabis responsibly, even as we know that it is virtually impossible to consume a lethal amount, and even as we know that cannabis is a much safer alternative to the substances that have taken the lives of my loved ones and likely many of yours.”
Committee Also Rejects Other Cannabis-Related Bills
The Judiciary Committee also voted to mark two other cannabis-related bills as ITL during Tuesday’s legislative hearing. One of the bills would allow medical marijuana patients registered with the state to grow cannabis at home.
The other measure would give the state’s existing medical marijuana providers, known as alternative treatment centers (ATCs), the authority to buy non-intoxicating hemp cannabinoids from commercial producers. The ATCs would then be allowed to use the cannabinoids in products for patients, provided they pass laboratory tests for safety and purity.
Cannabis advocates were not surprised by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s rejection of HB 75, the cannabis legalization bill. But Matt Simon, director of public and government relations at the medical marijuana provider GraniteLeaf Cannabis, said that the panel’s rejection of the medical marijuana bills illustrates the committee’s apparent distaste for all cannabis policy reform legislation.
“It appears that a few senators just want to kill every bill that deals with cannabis policy, no matter how modest and non-controversial,” Simon told Marijuana Moment. “That’s very unfortunate because support for cannabis policy reform has always been bipartisan in this state.”
A separate cannabis legalization bill approved by the House last week, HB 198, remains pending in the New Hampshire legislature.
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