“Outside of the 1950s B horror movies, it has never been the job of the government to protect you from a plant,” Rep. Max Abramson (R) said ahead of Thursday’s vote.
On Thursday, the GOP-controlled New Hampshire House of Representatives approved a bill to legalize marijuana possession and personal cultivation for adults. Members passed the legislation, sponsored by Rep. Carol McGuire (R), in a 241-113 vote.
This comes one day after the chamber narrowly rejected a separate, broader legalization proposal that would have regulated commercial production and sales, reported Marijuana Moment.
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“It is not—and never has been—the job of the government to try to protect you from hurting yourself,” Rep. Max Abramson (R) said ahead of Thursday’s vote. “And outside of the 1950s B horror movies, it has never been the job of the government to protect you from a plant.”
“This is truly a bipartisan issue with strong and wide support from Granite Staters,” Rep. Mark Warden (R) said. “The war on cannabis is a war on people. Those people are our neighbors and our constituents.”
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Meanwhile, New Hampshire’s Governor Christopher T. Sununu (R), has taken a strong stand against legalizing marijuana for recreational use and has given mixed support for the expansion of therapeutic cannabis in recent years.
The governor approved a major extension of the program in 2017 by allowing chronic pain patients to qualify. In May 2021, Sununu signed House Bill 89, which made autism spectrum disorder a qualifying condition for therapeutic cannabis, and also made moderate to severe insomnia a qualifying symptom when paired with an underlying condition, reported newhampshirebulletin.com
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been reposted with permission.