Marijuana: New Hampshire House Passes Decriminalization Bill
In a vote that caught most observers by surprise, the New Hampshire House of Representatives approved a scaled-back marijuana decriminalization bill by a margin of 193-141. To become law, the measure must still pass the state Senate, where it will receive a cool reception, and be signed by the governor, who has signaled his opposition to it.
Sponsored by Reps. Jeffrey Fontas (D-Nashua) and Andrew Edwards (D-Nashua), the bill, HB 1623, would make possession of up to a quarter ounce of marijuana a violation punishable by a maximum $200 fine. Currently, small-time possession is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
The favorable vote came despite the bill's rejection by a House policy committee and the opposition of law enforcement officials. Among arguments raised by proponents was that young offenders would be unfairly punished by having a marijuana offense on their records.
"How can we expect young people to get back on the right path if we take away every opportunity to do so?" Rep. Fontas said during the debate.
That sentiment was echoed on the Republican side of the aisle, too. "The question today is not whether marijuana should be illegal, but whether a teenager making a stupid decision should face up to a year in prison and loss of all federal funding for college,'' said Rep. Jason Bedrick (R-Windham).
Rep. John Tholl (R-Whitefield), a part-time police chief in the village of Dalton, was typical of opponents. He warned darkly that anyone sharing small amounts of marijuana could be charged with a felony and that anyone transporting it could still face jail time. Still, the measure would send the wrong message, he said.
"If you send a message to the young people of our state that a quarter ounce of marijuana is no big deal, like a traffic ticket, what you are doing is you are telling them we are not going to be looking at this very hard,'' Tholl said.
According to the Nashua Telegraph, Gov. John Lynch also thinks the bill sends the wrong message. His press secretary, Colin Manning, said Lynch will urge the Senate to reject it.
"This sends absolutely the wrong message to New Hampshire's young people about the very real dangers of drug use. That is why the governor joins with the House Criminal Justice Committee and law enforcement in opposing this bill,'' Manning said. "If the bill were to reach the governor's desk, which seems very unlikely, the governor would veto it.''
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Foster (D-Nashua) told the newspaper the bill is going nowhere in his chamber. "I know of no interest in the Senate on either side of the aisle to entertain this,'' Foster told reporters. "The governor has expressed his view, but I don't think he will see it coming to him.''
The New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy, which has led the lobbying charge for the bill, praised the House and urged the Senate to act. "Our representatives in the House did the right thing for New Hampshire -- and especially for New Hampshire's young people," said the coalition's Matt Simon. "It's time for the Senate to finish the work we've started here and bring some sanity to our marijuana sentencing policies."
Eleven states have decriminalized marijuana possession, mostly in the 1970s. Nevada was the most recent, decriminalizing in 2001.
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reddityoure a big bitch. shut the
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sat, 03/22/2008 - 3:09pmyoure a big bitch. shut the fuck up and kill yourself.
you are a complete idiot
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sat, 03/22/2008 - 3:35pmget a life. dont be retarded. and think before you speak
Baloney
Comment posted by Anonymous on Fri, 03/21/2008 - 4:14pmPlease change your headline!
They did not pass a 'decriminalization' bill.
They simply made the penalty less severe.
MJ is still illegal to own in NH.
Decriminalized vs legalized
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sun, 03/23/2008 - 12:21pmThere's a difference between decriminalized and legalized.
Decriminalization only means that the offender will be issued a ticket or some other sort of citation, rather than face jailtime.
Same thing with running a stop-sign. It's still illegal, but you'll get a ticket for it rather than getting hauled off to jail.
If marijuana possession was decriminalized up to a quarter, then getting "busted" with it would result in it being confiscated along with a ticket instead of being arrested and processed into the court system.
But the main thing you should notice about this article is the drug warriors' argument that any sort of reform would "send the wrong message to young people". You'll see this repeated ALL---THE---TIME whenever drug policy is being debated. It's their only defense.
Well, they're refusal to reform failing and unconstitutional drug policy sends a few messages of it's own:
1) America, self-proclaimed to be Land of the Free, does not allow it's citizens the freedom to decide what kind of lifestyle they wish to live. It's apparently the government's job to hold our hand and tell us what's good and bad, even when they're wrong. Only a free country can have higher incarceration rates than every other country in the world (Note; sarcasm).
2) It's better to save face than to admit you were wrong.
3) The best way to protect children from drugs is to arrest them, send them to jail or prison, let them be brutally raped for a few years, and then release them with a record of conviction which will result in denial of future educational or employment options. Hey, that's better for them than letting them smoke a little weed right?
4) Pro-drug warriors still own the moral high-ground. After all, drug use is a question of morality right? Using drugs is immoral, at least in the religious puritan sense. Considering the correlation between anti-drug warriors and religious morals, it's somewhat ironic that these moralistic zealots are basically claiming that GOD made a mistake by creating marijuana.
I can't even write anymore without wanting to puke.
Ron Paul would approve of
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sun, 03/23/2008 - 10:38pmRon Paul would approve of this reform. :)
So much for... Live free or Die
Comment posted by Anonymous on Mon, 03/24/2008 - 10:23amIt seems that the people of New Hampshire should change their state motto because clearly they aren't concerned with living free....
It is beginning to look like they only solution to the drug war will be the ammo box... because the jury box and the ballot box have failed to achieve victory.
We should make it so that being a "prohibitionist" is a bad thing... worse than a communist or a fascist and almost as bad as a pedophile.
drinking is worse
Comment posted by Anonymous on Tue, 03/25/2008 - 11:58amyou see people dying because of drinking but you rarely see people dying from marijuana if anything alchohol should be illegal
.org
no Common sense or any of the above!!
Comment posted by Anonymous on Fri, 03/21/2008 - 1:36pmTholl is still the uninformed jerk here! ''if our young people see 1/4 oz.as a misdemeaner sim.to a parking ticket[they give 200 dollar parking ticketts up there?]what signal are we sending them? well lets see,That we're still to stupid to be considered bipeds? That we're good under the table money from the big Drug Cartels be it Merck,Phiezers others!!,Their Senate is little better and their Gov.must have big time stocks in booze and pharma co.'s... by the way i'm ....donl you'll see my name all over