The House of Representatives in New Hampshire voted on Wednesday to override Gov. Sununu’s veto of a bill that seeks to allow registered medical marijuana patients to grow a limited number of marijuana plants at home for their medical needs.
In the message that the governor wrote to explain his veto, Sununu said that allowing home cultivation would make it very hard for law enforcement to prevent marijuana from registered medical users finding its way onto the marijuana black market.
The House didn’t agree with his reasoning and they voted 259 to 120 to overturn the veto on House Bill 364. This measure now heads to the state Senate where it had earlier passed with a slim majority of 14 to 10.
Under current state law, it is illegal to grow medical marijuana at home even if one is a registered patient or caregiver. HB 364 wants to change this position and allow patients or their caregivers to have three mature cannabis plants, three immature ones, and a maximum of 12 seedlings.
Activists are calling on the state Senate to follow the lead of the House and vote to override the governor’s veto. These activists argue that it is currently very hard for many patients to travel long distances in order to buy the needed medical marijuana products from one of the only four licensed dispensaries.
To compound matters even further, the limited number of dispensaries means that the medical marijuana products available are more expensive than they would have been if there were more players in the sector competing against each other.
The activists therefore see home grows as an opportunity for patients to access the treatment that they need without facing financial ruin due to the high cost of manufactured medical marijuana products.
Two recent polls in the state revealed that nearly 70 percent of the residents support the legalization of medical marijuana. Furthermore, the three states neighboring New Hampshire have all allowed medical marijuana patients to grow a limited number of plants for their own use.
All eyes are therefore going to be on the senators and how they vote once this measure returns to the upper chamber of the state legislature. If all who voted for the bill earlier remain supporting the measure, then the proponents of the bill will have to convince at least two of the ten senators who voted against the bill to change their position and support it.
Without two-thirds of the Senate voting to override the veto, then the decision of the governor will stand and the status quo will remain for the 7,000 medical marijuana patients on the state program.
It is widely believed that the entire industry, including companies like Green Growth Brands Inc. (CSE: GGB) (OTCQB: GGBXF) and Green Hygienics Holdings Inc. (OTCQB: GRYN) will be following the developments around this bill closely.
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