In a bi-partisan vote the NH House passed the legalization of Cannabis and once again I voted against this becoming law in the final division vote. Sometimes a division vote is used to provide anonymity for members of the House on controversial issues. The following is a statement released by our caucus, with which I don’t agree. I provide it here for information purposes only and repeat that this was not my preference.
I’ve been called by law enforcement agencies, health agencies and private citizens who agree that NH should not go down this road. In my opinion this is a community and individual health issue, and I don’t believe the tax revenue generated outweighs these. I am heartend that previous attempts to legalize cannabis have been killed by the Senate and the Governor and I expect that will occur again.
This bill will go to the House Ways and Means Committee, the committee on which I sit, to study the actual revenue this will generate for NH. In the past, our work has shown the revenue estimates are far below what the bill sponsors believe will occur.
