Despite New Hampshire’s Governor opposing marijuana legislation, there is one lawmaker in the state who believes it could become a reality.
Steve Shurtleff, the Democratic speaker of the state House of Representatives has said that the chamber and the Senate likely have enough support to override a promised veto of marijuana legalization legislation from Gov. Chris Sununu.
“It’s going to pass,” Shurtleff told the Boston Globe. He added, “It’s burying our head in the sand to think that if we continue to make it illegal in New Hampshire that people won’t be using marijuana.”
Governor Sununu has said that he would “absolutely” veto any marijuana legalization bill “regardless of what the language looks like.”
“If the vote was today, I would probably be voting ‘no’ simply because there is a legislative commission that’s meeting to look at the impact of legalization on the state of New Hampshire,” he said last summer. “As a courtesy to those serving on the commission, I would wait until they finish their work and issue their report.”
The report was released last month and discovered that marijuana legalization may generate up to $58 million in annual tax revenue for the state.
“Rep. Shurtleff’s evolution on cannabis reflects an encouraging trend among elected Democrats in New Hampshire,” Matt Simon, New England political director for the Marijuana Policy Project remarked in an interview.
Simon added, “While Gov. Sununu and many Republicans have inexplicably doubled down on their support for prohibition, Shurtleff and most Democrats can see that regulating cannabis is both good politics and smart policy.”
