Reefer Madness

Manchester Mayor and likely gubernatorial candidate Frank Guinta has called on state Rep. David Scannell to resign his position as spokesman for the Manchester school district after the representative voted in favor of decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana.

I like what School Board member Chris Herbert had to say: "I don't know what the mayor's deal is. A majority of the House voted for it." True, Scannell is in a unique position working for the school district, but shouldn't kids learn sometime that it is not contradictory to support marijuana decrim on the one hand and oppose drug use on the other.

I also do not agree with this quote: "Scannell insisted he will not resign, saying his vote is a form of political speech protected by the U.S. Constitution." I think it would be better to invoke Article 30, Section 1 of the New Hampshire Constitution: "The freedom of deliberation, speech, and debate, in either house of the legislature, is so essential to the rights of the people, that it cannot be the foundation of any action, complaint, or prosecution, in any other court or place whatsoever." Guinta's letter calling for Scannell's resignation is clearly a political ploy. However, I believe trying to make a man lose his job (which Scannell's coworkers say he does well) over something entirely political is not appropriate.

I don't think Guinta should be worrying too much about Scannell's vote, however. Governor Lynch says he will veto the bill if it reaches his desk. To boot, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Foster said: "I don't think he's going to be seeing it. I know of no interest in the Senate on either side of the aisle to entertain that bill." Why would they entertain a bill that brings the punishment closer in line with the crime?

Marijuana Decrim Bill Passes NH House

HB 1623, a bill that would decriminalize possession of marijuana under 1/4 of an ounce, passed the New Hampshire House of Representatives today by a vote of 193-141. Current law states that anyone in possession of 1/4 of an ounce or less can be sent to jail for a year and be fined up to $2,000; if passed by the Senate and signed by the Governor, the new law would abolish criminal penalties and reduce the fines to a maximum of $200.