The gears of government everywhere turn slowly, but in New Hampshire, at least they are turning on the issue of cannabis freedom. The state passed a medical cannabis law back in 2012 (though it still needs improving and the dispensaries have yet to open). The state representatives have voted to decriminalize and even to legalize cannabis, but the efforts have been blocked in the senate in close votes.
Overall, New Hampshire is behind the ball on decriminalizing cannabis. All the surrounding states have had significant decrim on cannabis possession, in Maine’s case, since the 70s! Vermont and Massachusetts in recent years dramatically decriminalized possession of up to an ounce. In Mass’ case the penalty is down to an unenforceable fine.
The current situation in New Hampshire is that a decrim bill will be heard this year, and on Tuesday morning the criminal justice house committee heard a bill that would merely create a study committee on legalizing cannabis. However, the hearing went on for nearly two hours, with the supermajority of speakers favoring the study committee. Only two people, one lady from “New Futures”, an apparently prohibitionist group, and a state cop were the ones arguing against the state reps learning about legalization.
Several people spoke in favor of the study committee, including state reps, Cheshire Jail superintendent Rick Van Wickler, the NHCLU’s director, medical cannabis users, and more. The criminal justice committee will vote on the bill in executive session where it will then be sent to the full house.
By a vote of 228-149, the NH House voted to amend the first sentence of House Rule 63 to read, “No person, including members of the House, except law enforcement officers while actively engaged in carrying out their duties as such, shall display any deadly weapon as defined in RSA 625:11, V while in the House Chamber, anterooms, cloakrooms, or any portion of the State House adjacent to any of the above.” (more…)
If you believe the haters, liberty-loving “Free Staters” have snuck into office against the wishes of the majority of NH’s population. Of course, the reality is that there are plenty of people in NH who know and love liberty activists. That’s why they keep getting re-elected, like Carol and Dan McGuire, who have now been re-elected for State Representative multiple times. Here’s the story on them from the Concord Monitor: (more…)
It’s been a week since Keenevention 2014 and that means it’s time to begin releasing the full video coverage from the event! (If you’re impatient, you can watch all of 2013 here.) We’ll go in chronological order, so first up is the Legislative Panel featuring Mark Warden, the two-time liberty “Legislator of the Year” (as awarded by the NH Liberty Alliance)! Mark’s panelists included activist-of-the-year Keith Carlsen and the political director of the NH Liberty Alliance, Kevin Bloom! The informative panel covered how to be effective in New Hampshire’s amazingly accessible legislature, whether you are an elected state rep or just someone who wants to have an impact:
This is huge news. The previous counts of Free Staters in the state house were 12 in 2010, 11 in 2012, and now at least 15! It’s impressive that so many have won elected office already and the official move for the Free State Project has yet to even happen. (The FSP move doesn’t officially start until we reach 20,000 participants and we’re currently over 16,000.)
Not only that, but it’s extra impressive in that the FSP haters put in quite a bit of time, money, and effort to try to stop us. Untold thousands of dollars were spent on hitpiece flyers sent to countless households “outing” candidates as “Free Staters”.
Sure, some candidates lost, but others, like Free State Project participant and democrat Elizabeth Edwards in Manchester, got first place. Edwards even got more votes than did the incumbent!
I don’t know everyone on the list provided by GSP, so presuming it’s accurate – they claim to have done their homework – then it’s safe to say that at least 15 Free Staters are victorious this year, which is a new record high!
If that wasn’t enough good news, the majority of New Hampshire Liberty Alliance–endorsed candidates won tonight as well! (NHLA-endorsed candidates vote for liberty more often than not – they aren’t necessarily principled libertarians.)
Are you still living outside of New Hampshire? How did the libertarians do in your area? Likely they weren’t even on the ballot or did very poorly. Why not move to where liberty has a chance? Move to New Hampshire and join over 1,600 early movers with the Free State Project and help us achieve liberty in our lifetime!
Robin Hood goes to Washington..err..Concord • James hassled over his retired police cruiser – Show me the law • Infamous FL speed trap town dissolves corrupt police department • Running and losing in the primaries • The chicken coop roof is on fire • James and Garret • Show notes at: BlackSheepRising.org
![501988c68615a0.53593007[1]](https://i0.wp.com/freekeene.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/501988c68615a0.535930071-300x41.jpg?resize=300%2C41){kind=small}
