The New Hampshire House Wednesday afternoon approved a bill that would regulate marijuana like alcohol. The measure, House Bill 492, passed on a vote of 170-162.

[image:1 align:right]The bill sponsored by Rep. Steve Vaillancourt (R-Manchester) with a bipartisan group of four cosponsors, would make the private possession and home growing of limited amounts of marijuana legal for adults 21 and older.

It would also direct the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration to license and regulate marijuana retail stores, cultivation facilities, product manufacturing facilities, and testing facilities. As amended by the House, it would enact a wholesale tax of $30 per ounce and a sales tax of 15% per ounce. The House voted down a similar bill 228-89 in 2012.

The bill now goes to the House Ways and Means Committee to review its revenue aspects. However that committee votes, it will return to the House floor for a second vote. If approved again, it then goes to the Senate.

"House members made history today, and they are clearly on the right side of it," said Matt Simon,the New Hampshire-based New England political director for the Marijuana Policy Project, which lobbied in support of the bill. "Marijuana prohibition has been an enormously expensive failure. Most Americans, including 60% of New Hampshire residents, agree that it is time to adopt a more sensible policy."

Unfortunately for marijuana advocates, New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) is not one of them. She said only yesterday that she would veto the bill because it would send the wrong message to kids. To actually achieve marijuana legalization in the Granite State, both the House and the Senate would have to override her veto. The margin of victory in this first House vote isn't enough to do so.