URGENT: From NH Common Sense:
It was a big deal that HB 492 (the legalization and regulation bill based on Colorado’s Amendment 64) passed the New Hampshire House January 8, but it will need to survive another close vote in the House before it reaches the Senate. The second and final House vote is expected either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.
Please take a couple of minutes to look up your representatives and their votes. You can find your representative(s) and their contact information here, and the roll call vote on HB 492 is available here.
If your representative(s) voted “YEA” in January, please call or email them to say thanks and ask if you can count on them to vote in favor again this week. A call is much more valuable than an email, but both are very important and time is short.
If your representative(s) voted “NO” in January, please call or email them and make an effort to convince them they should vote in favor.
If your representative(s) were not present for the vote, it is very important that you call or email them and encourage them to vote for HB 492.
A few talking points you can use:
–Everything appears to be going very well in Colorado. People are buying marijuana from licensed retailers instead of from gangs and cartels, and the state raked in $3.5 million in marijuana taxes in January alone. Police are able to spend their time dealing with things people actually care about, like preventing violent crime.
–HB 492 has been improved by an amendment that was worked out by the Ways and Means Committee. The regulatory structure makes a lot more sense now, with the Department of Agriculture regulating cultivators and other agencies regulating other marijuana establishments. Legislators on the committee are saying it’s a much better bill than it was January 8.
–The Senate has been way behind the House on marijuana policy issues for many years. They need to have this important conversation, too, and the only way that will happen is if the House passes HB 492 this week!
Again, you can find your representative(s) and their contact information here, and the roll call vote on HB 492 is available here. Please take a few minutes to make these important calls and send these important emails!
If you speak with your representative, please take a minute to write back and let us know what he or she tells you! Thanks!
