The amendment would’ve turned possession or use of less than three-quarters of an ounce of psilocybin from a felony into a misdemeanor on first offense
While passage of a state budget was the main focus in Concord, lawmakers also voted on several bills that came out of this month’s committees of conference. The committees, made up of House and Senate negotiators, formulated compromises on bills that both chambers had passed but in different forms. On Thursday, the full chambers voted to either accept the compromises or kill the bills.
Bills passed on Thursday now head to Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s desk, where she will have the option to sign them into law, veto them, or allow them to become law without her signature. Meanwhile, other hotly debated bills met their demise Thursday.
Here’s a look at the vote that included a measure related to criminal penalties for psilocybin.
Mandatory minimums and shrooms
One bill that didn’t get approval from both chambers Thursday was Senate Bill 14.
That bill sought to impose mandatory minimum sentences on people convicted on fentanyl charges in New Hampshire. The bill would’ve required judges to sentence those convicted with 20 grams or more of the drug to at least 3½ years in prison, and those convicted with 50 or more grams would be sentenced to no less than seven years. Currently, there’s no minimum sentence for fentanyl charges under state law, meaning judges have more discretion. However, there is a maximum of 30 years for first-time offenders and life imprisonment for repeat offenders.
The bill, though, contained more than fentanyl sentencing. After the Senate passed it, Republican Reps. Kevin Verville and Terry Roy added a new provision to lessen criminal penalties for psilocybin, the psychedelic drug colloquially known as shrooms or magic mushrooms. The new amendment would’ve turned possession or use of less than three-quarters of an ounce of psilocybin from a felony into a misdemeanor on first offense. Verville, who has championed other bills meant to reduce punishments for certain drugs like psilocybin or marijuana, has argued psilocybin is much less dangerous than fentanyl and that it has medicinal benefits, such as treatment for PTSD and migraines.
Thursday morning, the House initially voted 183-186 to reject the compromise version of the bill. However, after a midday recess, the House regrouped and brought the bill back for reconsideration and on a second vote approved it, 185-182.
“Never stop the drive until you score,” Rep. Jason Osborne, House majority leader and a proponent of the bill, wrote on social media following the second vote.
However, the bill’s newfound hope subsequently died when the Senate considered it. The Senate voted to table it at the request of Sen. Bill Gannon, a Sandown Republican. Gannon had previously told House negotiators in the committee of conference that the psilocybin add-on was a nonstarter for the Senate. However, he was soon replaced on the committee by Sen. Daryl Abbas, a Salem Republican and vocal backer of mandatory minimums. The committee then approved a compromise deal with both the mandatory minimums and reduced psilocybin penalties. However, Gannon rallied enough Republicans to join with Democrats and shoot down the bill Thursday.
Enacting mandatory minimums was a legislative priority for Ayotte, who made it a campaign promise and has been publicly calling on lawmakers to get a bill across the finish line.
This article was republished from the New Hampshire Bulletin under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. You can read the original version here.
