Today I attended the New Hampshire House of Representatives Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee remote hearing on HB629. I prepared written comments ahead of time which I read aloud during the public comment portion of the hearing. The written version of my comments can be found in full below.
HB629: relative to the home cultivation of cannabis plants and the possession of certain cannabis-infused products
My name is John Light, from Manchester, NH. I am a founder and volunteer contributor to Decriminalize New Hampshire, a community project focused on abolishing unjust criminal laws. However I am here speaking only on behalf of myself.
I am here to provide testimony in support of HB629 relative to the home cultivation of cannabis.
First, since we have had some out of state folks giving testimony, I’ll start by mentioning that I lived in California for 7 years, under both the Prop 215 medical cannabis regime and the Prop 64 recreational cannabis regime, and while there’s a lot that could be improved with Prop 64 I can say those regimes were far better for myself and my community than the regimes in the prohibition states that I’ve lived in.
Cannabis prohibition has been an obvious failure and fraud from the beginning. Cannabis prohibition was founded on hysterical lies and racism, and has caused incalculable harm to society. Not only has prohibition not stopped drug abuse from happening, since prohibition started, the drug abuse problem has only gotten worse.
Recreational cannabis is currently decriminalized in limited amounts here in New Hampshire, however consumers must still acquire their cannabis either out of state, in a neighboring jurisdiction where recreational cannabis sales are legal, or by acquiring cannabis on the black market here in New Hampshire.
I believe HB629 is a strict improvement over the current law by giving cannabis consumers here in New Hampshire a legal, domestic source of cannabis, by either growing cannabis themselves or having cannabis gifted to them by someone else.
I urge the committee to support and approve HB629.
Where are the specifics? 