A legislative study of marijuana legalization is the latest sign the state is considering reforming its marijuana laws.
The interim study is being carried out by five members of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, who are expected to send a report on legalization to the New Hampshire House in November.
A committee recommendation in support of legalization would be telling, according to Matt Simon, executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy.
"It would be a clear statement that they want to see this conversation about legalization taken seriously by the state and Legislature," Simon said.
Legalization has support from several members of the subcommittee, according to its chairman. But Shannon Chandley, D-Amherst, said she thinks it would represent a risky social experiment if it took effect.
The legalization proposal, House Bill 1652, was one of three bills given serious consideration by legislators the past two years.
The bill was sent to the Criminal Justice Subcommittee earlier in the year, after House members decided it needed more study.
The bill, as proposed, would have allowed adults to possess 1 ounce or less of marijuana. It also provided for state regulation and taxation of marijuana's wholesale and retail sale.
The subcommittee has met twice this summer, most recently Tuesday.
Chandley, the subcommittee chairman, said the people who have talked to the group have supported the bill.
Chandley, who describes herself as being solidly on the fence on this bill, said there is support for it on the subcommittee, but at least two members want to hear what law enforcement has to say about it. The subcommittee has its final session on the interim study Sept. 7.
One subcommittee member, a former Manchester police officer, said he thinks possession of an ounce or less of marijuana should be legal.
Rep. Larry Gagne, R-Manchester, a Navy veteran and police officer during the Nixon administration, said he previously supported arresting someone for possession of even a marijuana seed or roach. But after studying the history of prohibition and how it financed organized crime, and talking to fellow legislators, Gagne said he has changed his mind.
He said he would like to see if marijuana could be controlled, licensed and taxed by the state, especially during the economic downturn. His questions are over how such a law would be implemented.
"The devil is in the details," he said.
Subcommittee member Rep. David Welch, R-Kingston, said he supports decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana, but not flat-out legalization.
Welch, too, has changed his opinion of marijuana laws, thinking they are too harsh. Society has clearly changed its thinking about these laws, he said.
"At some point, those of us in the Legislature have to catch up to that or we are going to be replaced," he said.
While Chandley said she has reservations about how legalization would affect the state and its laws, she doesn't think decriminalization would represent such a departure because it has been implemented elsewhere.
Massachusetts decriminalized marijuana in November 2008. Possession of an ounce or less of the drug is a civil infraction in Massachusetts, punishable by a fine of $100.
Last year, a bill that would have decriminalized possession of a quarter ounce or less of marijuana was approved by the New Hampshire House, 214-137, but defeated in the Senate.
Two years ago, both the House and Senate approved a bill that would have legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Gov. John Lynch vetoed the bill and it fell two votes short of an override.
Simon said medicinal marijuana and decriminalization bills will be introduced in the Legislature in the future. One will be proposed in the next session.
"There will definitely be a medical marijuana bill," he said.
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