Sununu signals pivot for New England’s last ‘dry’ state on marijuana – The Boston Globe

Whereas the state has decriminalized the drug and oversees a restricted medical marijuana marketplace for sufferers with sure situations, a number of bipartisan makes an attempt by New Hampshire’s 400-seat Home of Representatives to legalize it — together with a invoice calling for state-run pot retailers — have all died within the extra conservative 24-member Senate or on the desk of Republican Governor Chris Sununu.

A longtime staunch opponent of legalization, Sununu in 2019 vetoed a invoice that may have allowed medical marijuana sufferers to develop six crops at house, and in 2018 he enlisted the assistance of a nationwide anti-legalization group to marketing campaign towards the coverage “no matter what the language seems to be like,” citing the opioid disaster.

However immediately, Sununu is whistling a really totally different tune, even when it’s not precisely “Smoke Two Joints.”

Earlier this 12 months, he stunned observers by saying legalization was most likely “inevitable,” and that he would favor a state-run mannequin over alternate options. Now, in a Friday assertion to the Globe, Sununu’s workplace claimed he has truly outflanked Democrats on the favored problem, the clearest sign but that the governor is pivoting away from his earlier opposition.

“The governor’s administration has been extra progressive on the problems surrounding marijuana reform than another governor in New Hampshire historical past,” a spokesman mentioned within the assertion. “After years of inaction by Democrat governors, Chris Sununu signed commonsense decriminalization, expanded entry to medical marijuana, and supplied a pathway to annul outdated convictions for marijuana possession. The legislature has by no means despatched a legalization invoice to the governor’s desk — it’s failed within the Senate repeatedly, in each Republican-held years and Democrat-held years.”

The spokesman stopped wanting saying Sununu would signal a legalization invoice, promising solely that he would evaluate any laws if the 2 chambers “attain consensus and compromise.”

Nonetheless, the obvious softening of his stance is giving hope to advocates in New Hampshire, who mentioned they’ve been exasperated by the federal government’s inaction, particularly in mild of the state’s supposedly libertarian values and polls displaying sturdy public assist amongst residents.

A latest College of New Hampshire examine discovered clear majorities of Republican, Democrat, and impartial voters favored legalization and pegged total approval within the state at 74 %.

“There are so few points on this political period the place there’s such apparent, broad bipartisan settlement, and whenever you discover a type of factors, it’s best to embrace it,” mentioned Steve Marchand, a Democrat who ran for governor in 2016 and 2018 on a pro-legalization platform. “How on earth might a state whose slogan is ‘stay free’ be the one state in your entire northeast of America that hasn’t legalized hashish? It’s ridiculous.”

Individuals from different states are sometimes incredulous once they study that New Hampshire hasn’t legalized marijuana, Marchand added.

“I present them the map the place we’re this one purple state in a sea of inexperienced states stretching a whole lot of miles which have legalized [marijuana],” he mentioned. “If we’re not cautious, ‘stay free’ will go from philosophy to shtick.”

Even earlier than final week, New Hampshire was surrounded by “legalized” neighbors, together with Canada, the place provincial governments since 2018 have been promoting pot out of state-run liquor shops — not in contrast to these alongside New Hampshire’s highways.

It’s an open secret that many New Hampshire residents routinely journey to licensed dispensaries in Massachusetts and Maine (and earlier than lengthy, Vermont) to fill up, resulting in an outflux of potential income. And within the meantime, a whole lot of residents proceed to be arrested for marijuana crimes every year, with the New Hampshire ACLU lately discovering huge racial disparities in how New Hampshire’s prohibition on the drug is enforced.

Missing a mechanism for poll initiatives like people who legalized hashish in Massachusetts and Maine, legalization proponents in New Hampshire have been pressured to carry their struggle to the State Home. Progress has been gradual, with quite a few senators who oppose legalization — together with a handful of Democrats — simply profitable reelection, and the discourse incessantly devolving into what one supporter referred to as “retro reefer insanity.”

Nationwide pro-cannabis teams such because the Marijuana Coverage Mission have lowered their presence in New Hampshire lately, figuring no legalization invoice would change into legislation till the make-up of the Senate modified or a brand new governor was elected.

“That is my fifteenth 12 months coping with the New Hampshire legislature on hashish coverage, and it’s simply been one frustration after one other,” mentioned Matt Simon, a longtime MPP advocate who now lobbies for Prime ATC, a medical dispensary agency. “Nowhere is the disconnect between public and political opinion extra monumental than in New Hampshire. It’s embarrassing to only about all people besides the New Hampshire Senate.”

Senate President Chuck Morse didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Christopher Galdieri, a professor of politics at Saint Anselm Faculty, mentioned marijuana is solely not a deal-breaker problem for many New Hampshire voters, even when they strongly assist legalization — one clarification for the disparity.

“A variety of of us suppose it will be good, however I don’t know if meaning they get away from bed with this as a high problem and call their legislators 5 instances per week,” he mentioned.

Nonetheless, Galdieri acknowledged, New Hampshire’s reluctance to legalize appears more and more out of step, opening alternative for one occasion or the opposite to grab on the difficulty.

“As increasingly more states do it, there’s a threat of New Hampshire wanting like a type of counties in Arkansas which are nonetheless dry and you may’t purchase a drink,” he mentioned.

For marijuana shoppers and sufferers in New Hampshire, the information from Rhode Island final week merely underlined longstanding frustrations.

“It’s one more second of feeling defeated,” mentioned Heather Marie Brown, a 45-year-old medical marijuana affected person from Barnstead, N.H. “We’re first within the nation for lots of issues, however on the subject of hashish we’re a pathetic excuse. We now have some very uneducated, older legislators which are nonetheless caught in that prohibition mindset and suppose hashish goes to make you go loopy.”

Trying ahead, Brown and different supporters are hoping this 12 months’s elections will yield a extra sympathetic Senate that’s keen to stroll by way of the door cracked open by Sununu’s latest feedback.

“This shouldn’t be a taboo topic in New Hampshire anymore,” Brown mentioned. “I’m actually begging our legislators to do the job they have been put in workplace to do and characterize nearly all of the individuals. There may be completely no want for hashish to nonetheless be unlawful. Simply go searching you.”

Dan Adams will be reached at daniel.adams@globe.com. Observe him on Twitter @Dan_Adams86.