Maine and Massachusetts legalize marijuana - impact on NH (moving, schedule)

[unit731]

Don't see any movement on this subject with a Republican House, Senate, and Governor.


We already have the medial ganja- don't we?


We should have had two casinos - one at Rockingham and one up north. Probably too late for this as casinos are all over the New England area now.


It's virtually the same argument. Vice attracts the undesirables. Whether real or imagined.

[Dross99_si]

Originally Posted by unit731

Don't see any movement on this subject with a Republican House, Senate, and Governor.


We already have the medial ganja- don't we?


We should have had two casinos - one at Rockingham and one up north. Probably too late for this as casinos are all over the New England area now.


It's virtually the same argument. Vice attracts the undesirables. Whether real or imagined.

Would be nice to have some casinos around here. Another revenue generator. And old people love casinos and gambling. In Laughlin NV it was packed with elderly people. We nicknamed it the "senior's center". None of these namby pamby casinos either with no smoking allowed and no cocktail waitresses. I'm talking about real casinos. NV has money coming out of their ears from their gaming revenue. Maybe that would also attract younger people and/or create jobs for the existing ones in their 20s & 30s.

Back to the Mary Jane.. maybe these people watched too much Reefer Madness propaganda.

[GregW]

Back to the OP. Now we can closely observe the effects of legal Marijuana availability in out neighboring states. If we find the benefits outweigh the costs we can then legalize it here and, by selling it in our State Liquor Stores, undercut Maine, Massachusetts and smugglers, prices, and make a substantial profit that can be used to treat the rest of our addiction problems.


I do not use MJ. When I tried I did not like the effects.

[Beaconowner]

Originally Posted by sailor_lou

Based on what I have seen in CO and WA, there still appears to a few outstanding issues, most notable:


1) Currently there is no good way to detect on the spot an impaired driver, but I read recently CO is getting close to resolving that problem.


2) It does bring a lot of unemployed and often homeless people to the state. However, with neighboring states ahead of NH, this might not be such an issue.


I agree it will be 50 state legal in the future and I personally do not have an issue with that, provided it is controlled similar to alcohol.

#1 sounds like what you hear from prohibitionists, but I don't think it's true in reality.


For example, in my mind if you can't tell if a driver is impaired, then they are not impaired. Impairment should be able to be detected with a simple roadside sobriety test.


Now a sobriety test won't tell you how many metabolites of THC a person has in their body, or if they used marijuana today or two weeks ago, but that isn't, in my view, what we should be testing for.


If we truly want to know who is impaired, then a roadside sobriety test can do that. If we just want to find marijuana users, and punish them, then something more elaborate is needed. That seems to be the way states are going, with artificial and somewhat arbitrary blood content limits, without any performance context.

[dannon35]

Meanwhile, our great state continues to sell a product far more harmful than pot directly to residents and non-residents alike at roadside stands along the highway. So much for "Live Free or Die".

[Nonesuch]

Originally Posted by dannon35

Meanwhile, our great state continues to sell a product far more harmful than pot directly to residents and non-residents alike at roadside stands along the highway. So much for "Live Free or Die".

Running hard liquor across state lines is a grand tradition, incorporating both live free and die.

Originally Posted by unit731

Don't see any movement on this subject with a Republican House, Senate, and Governor.

Meanwhile, assuming the senate gets it's act together, our new republican governor will do what Hassan was unwilling to, enacting a decriminalization law in his first term.

[Jon3154]

Originally Posted by nativenewenglander

My bet is within 5 years it will be 50 states legal. Having two states in New England with legal weed, makes NH and VT the next to concede. The revenue from taxes on both a federal and state level will be too great to pass up.

NH will be the last state in New England to legalize. We are the only state that hasn't decriminalized in New England. I say, at this point, we skip that and just fully legalize.

[Nonesuch]

Originally Posted by Jon3154

NH will be the last state in New England to legalize. We are the only state that hasn't decriminalized in New England. I say, at this point, we skip that and just fully legalize.

Not going to happen.

Sununu has stated more than once that he favors decriminalization, and will sign such a bill if one passes the statehouse.

Originally Posted by SeaCoastOnline

Regarding Maine and Massachusetts’ votes to legalize recreational marijuana, Sununu said that’s not something he’s interested in promoting for the Granite State. He said he would support decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, “to get the punishment of that crime more in line with its severity and more in line with the common sense punishment it needs to be.”

[Jon3154]

Originally Posted by Nonesuch

Not going to happen.

Sununu has stated more than once that he favors decriminalization, and will sign such a bill if one passes the statehouse.

That's good at least. I'm sure a decriminalization bill will come to his desk. Maybe 2017 will be the year NH finally decriminalizes marijuana, assuming it passes the Senate.

[metalmancpa]

I believe it will be legal in 50 states in the next decade.

As more states legalize, there will be more data as to its effects. How much more or less will this cost law enforcement? Less on going after marijuana users, but maybe more looking for impaired drivers. I believe tax revenue will be a big plus for the states to want to cash in.