New Hampshire Fails to Stop Veto of Bill to Let Medical Cannabis Operators Use Greenhouses

New Hampshire lawmakers this week failed to override a veto by Gov. Chris Sununu (R) of recent legislation that would have let licensed medical cannabis cultivators grow cannabis inside of greenhouses, Marijuana Moment reports.

House lawmakers voted 270-55 to override the governor’s veto but the state Senate blocked the effort, voting 14–9 against.

The bill sought specifically to allow the state’s medical cannabis operators to build greenhouses on their cultivation sites if approved by the state Department of Health and Human Services. Current state law requires medical cannabis to be grown indoors — supporters of the bill said letting the medical cannabis companies build greenhouses would help the industry cut costs and reduce its environmental impact.

Gov. Sununu vetoed the bill in July after it passed both legislative bodies. At the time, the governor argued the bill provided “scant detail regarding safety, security and location requirements” for the changes, calling such details “necessary to ensure appropriate controls.”

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Suzanne Vail (D), said in the report that under the proposal, the new greenhouses would have been subject to the same stringent regulations as a new brick-and-mortar site.

“Contrary to the governor’s veto message, any new facility would go through the same process as the original dispensaries and their original cultivation locations, to get townspeople’s approval and to meet the rigorous security requirements that are already in place in the facilities that we have set up right now.” — Vail, via Marijuana Moment

Gov. Sununu did sign into law two medical cannabis expansion bills this year in July — one expanding who can recommend patients to the state’s medical cannabis program, and one to making it so qualified health professionals can recommend patients to the program for any condition they see fit.