Despite hopes for bill’s passage, advocates say mood has turned in Senate

New Hampshire House Republican leaders are ready to engage in what they call “legislative hostage-taking” if the state Senate rejects their marijuana legalization bill this week.

In 2022, voters sent to the New Hampshire Senate several former state representatives who either supported marijuana legalization or didn’t reflexively oppose it. But the window that might have opened to get a legalization bill through the Senate this year appears to be rapidly closing.

“There’s something peculiar that happens to people when they leave the People’s House and head over to the other side of the wall,” said Republican House Majority Leader Jason Osborne.

Osborne said he’s aware of an effort to kick the can down the road on cannabis, and legalization advocates said there’s been a shift recently as they speak with state senators.

“All in the last week or two, there seems to be a bit of a turn of attention from my Republican Senate supporters that this bill now has issues,” said Timothy Egan, of the New Hampshire Cannabis Association.

House Bill 639 would legalize marijuana in New Hampshire for adults 21 and older while imposing a 12.5% tax on sales.

State representatives backed the legislation with broad bipartisan support, but in recent years, the House’s growing enthusiasm for legalization has been blocked by the Senate, where there is bipartisan skepticism of the ability of cannabis to be a revenue driver for the state. [Read More @ WMUR 9 ABC]