Concord, NH (AP) - The Senate has voted against letting New Hampshire farmers legally grow industrial hemp and instead propose establishing a committee to study the idea.

The Senate voted Thursday to amend a House-passed bill that would forbid industrial hemp, a botanical cousin to marijuana, from being listed as a controlled substance. The bill now goes back to the House.

Supporters say hemp was once an important crop in the United States, but has not been grown in New Hampshire for decades. They say the plant has lower levels of THC, a principal chemical in cannabis, than marijuana and can be used for a variety of non-illicit products.

The proposed study would examine the viability of a hemp crop and develop procedures for destroying crops not in compliance with state and federal regulations.

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Following the national tide of public opinion favoring the legalization of marijuana, the Democrat-controlled New Hampshire house passed a bill - HB 492-FN-LOCAL - on Jan. 16 that would legalize marijuana for recreational use.

In passing the bill, the New Hampshire House made history by becoming the first legislative body to pass a bill that would legalize recreational marijuana.

There are currently only two states in the Union - Colorado and Washington - where recreational marijuana is legal, and both states' laws were passed through public referendum, as opposed to legislative action.

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Re "Legalize pot? There's no need to rush" (Sunday Monitor editorial, Jan. 26):

There is no reason to continue throwing good money after bad drug policy. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has almost double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands where marijuana is legal.

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I hate to spoil anyone's buzz, but if you have ever smoked pot or been around a bunch of people who are stoned, you understand why they call it dope.

Don't get me wrong: What an adult lights up in his home is his own business. It's what is going to happen on our roads and in our schools if pot is made legal - and easier to get - that concerns me.

We have all had close calls while driving with jerks crossing the yellow line while yapping on their cells or texting. Add to that a half-smoked joint in the ashtray, and that is asking for trouble.

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Re "Legalize Marijuana?" (Monitor Forum, Jan. 23):

The first thing I read was a quote from the American Medical Association House of Delegates: "Cannabis is a dangerous drug and as such is treated as a public health concern." I am calling them out on this one. I would like them to actually prove that. And instead of repeating the same old stats about brain cells and memory loss, I would like them to tell me exactly how many lives were lost due to cannabis overdoses.

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Should New Hampshire legalize marijuana for recreational use? Until now, the question has seemed like an idle one. But with a recent poll showing a majority of residents approve of the idea and with a vote this month by the New Hampshire House in favor of such a measure, the matter has seemingly gained new urgency.

Our view is this: Why rush?

In the past, the consequences of legalization, pro and con, were all hypothetical. Activists on both sides of the matter could predict with passion what legalization would mean for crime and incarceration rates, for public health, for children, for the economy or for state revenue, but they were really making just educated guesses. Today, with the advent of legalization in Colorado and Washington state, we have two real-life experiments from which to learn.

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Were members of the New Hampshire House who voted to legalize, sell and tax marijuana last week actually puffing the stuff at the time? The House has done some strange things, usually when led by Democrats as it is now, but this one takes the cake for irresponsible and dangerous behavior.

Our society, our schools, parents, police, work force, etc., don't have enough to do right now in combating the effects of drug use and abuse?

Idiots are endangering public safety by texting and driving, bumping off the elderly out to get their mail or injuring other drivers. And the House wants to hand them the keys and encourage a joint, too?

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Last week's historic vote by the New Hampshire House to legalize marijuana didn't fall into easy categories of party, geography or generation.

Some liberal Democrats voted against the measure, while conservative Republicans voted for it. Some of the youngest lawmakers voted "nay" while senior citizens said "yea."

Wednesday's 170-162 vote (click here for the roll call) was the first time any legislative chamber in the country has voted to legalize "personal use" of marijuana by adults 21 and older and establish a legal market for selling it, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, which supports such laws.

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Legalizing marijuana would not change how DUI laws are enforced here, according to a state police expert.

That's because of a 1-year-old state law that was designed to crack down on people who drive while impaired by prescription drugs and other legal medications.

RSA 265-A:2 makes it illegal to drive - or operate a boat - while "under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any controlled drug, prescription drug, over-the-counter drug, or any other chemical substance, natural or synthetic, which impairs a person's ability to drive."

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CONCORD - Nearly 10 percent of 12 to 17 year olds in New Hampshire regularly use marijuana while more than one in four 18 to 25 years olds report using it at least once in the past month, the fifth highest rate in the nation, according to a national survey.

"This is a disturbing finding," said Joe Harding, director of the Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Services, of the youth statistics. "It is an alarming rate and well above the U.S. average of 7.6 percent of 12 to 17 year olds nationally reporting regular marijuana use. This underscores the need for us to collaborate with not only our partners in the field, but also businesses, law enforcement, the medical field and schools to implement proven strategies to prevent youth use of marijuana."

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As the new year starts, Chris Clement, the commissioner of the Department of Transportation, brings the obvious to our eyes. As the Concord Monitor reports: "The number of "red-listed" state bridges is 145 and climbing. He'll begin 2016 with a $48 million deficit in the highway fund. Thirty-seven percent of the state's roads are in poor condition. And while plenty of lawmakers say they want to finish improvements to Interstate 93, they've put $0 toward the $250 million bill."

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The United States had no drug laws until 1914. Yet somehow our pioneering ancestors managed to build railroads across the continent, invent the airplane and electric light, and build the biggest economy in history.

America before the Drug Enforcement Administration had no drug gangs, no drug violence, and low crime. Adult drug users just went to the drug store and bought drugs without drama. No one sold drugs in schools. There were no huge drug profits, no overseas terrorist drug lords, and no wrong-address SWAT team raids at 3 a.m.

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To the Editor:

I'd like to thank the Herald for reaffirming its support for reducing marijuana penalties in New Hampshire. All five other New England states have removed their criminal penalties for simple possession of marijuana, and voters overwhelmingly agree that New Hampshire should do so as well.

However, I felt it was necessary to respond to the Herald's use of the term "brain-cell-killing" in its editorial (Jan. 3, "Legalizing recreational pot can wait"). There is, in fact, no currently accepted scientific evidence showing that marijuana use kills brain cells. By contrast, there is a great deal of evidence showing that heavy alcohol use causes permanent brain damage.

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RE: "Legalized pot up for vote" in New Hampshire, (Portsmouth Herald, Dec. 31, 2013). It's about time the entire country re-legalize the relatively safe God-given plant cannabis (marijuana). Colorado ended cannabis prohibition a year ago and the sky hasn't fallen in.

Cannabis prohibition is responsible for increased hard drug addiction rates, contempt for drug laws, eroded constitutional rights, escalated prison populations, corrupt politicians, race discrimination, wasting trillions of dollars, prohibiting free American farmers from growing hemp (even though communist Chinese farmers grow it), and is one of America's worst policy failures in history. Ending cannabis prohibition is one of the most important issues of our time.

A sane argument to continue cannabis prohibition doesn't exist.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

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New Hampshire is still months away from implementing a limited medical marijuana law for the seriously ill passed last year. But lawmakers are already being asked about legalizing marijuana for recreational use as well.

The bill was introduced by state Rep. Steve Vallaincourt, R-Manchester, who wrote to House members: "Nothing in the bill would allow anyone to drive under the influence of marijuana or any other substance. By legalizing, regulating and taxing (marijuana) society would in effect be taking the profit away from illegal operations which truly harm society."

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House Lawmakers to Consider Use of Up to 1 Ounce for Recreational Use

Concord, NH (AP) - New Hampshire's House votes early next month whether to legalize up to 1 ounce of marijuana for recreational use for anyone age 21 and older.

Supporters propose taxing the drug when it is sold at retail at a rate of $30 per ounce and letting people grow up to six marijuana plants in a controlled environment.

State Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, a Manchester Republican supporting the bill, said the legislation is modeled after one approved by Colorado voters last year and is similar to one Washington voters passed.

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Re "Prison to alter mail rule" (Monitor front page, Dec. 11):

The New Hampshire Department of Corrections has announced that it will begin restricting the First Amendment rights of inmates and their loved ones to communicate by banning correspondence via letters for maximum and close-custody inmates. For general population inmates, envelopes will be seized upon delivery. The reason given for this change is to prevent the introduction of contraband - specifically the drug suboxone - into the prison.

Preventing drug use within a prison is certainly a noble goal. However, a peek behind the proverbial curtains reveals that this is yet another leap down the road of ineptitude when it comes to truly addressing drug abuse, the largest reason for recidivism.

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NORTHAMPTON - "Marijuana legalized in Massachusetts." Expect that headline on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016.

For years, public opinion polls across the United States have demonstrated widespread support to end marijuana prohibition. Unfortunately, politicians still paranoid of the moniker "soft on crime" or "soft on drugs" have waffled on this issue and waited for the people to lead.

And the people have. In 2008, Massachusetts citizens voted by a 65-35 margin to decriminalize possession of a small amount for personal use, replacing a criminal sanction with a rarely enforced $100 civil penalty. Four years later, in 2012, Massachusetts joined 18 other states when voters approved medical marijuana by a similar landslide margin, 63-37.

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Re "Poor arguments against legalizing pot" (Monitor letter, Nov. 30):

Colorado legalized marijuana more than a year ago, and the sky isn't falling. Cannabis prohibition has been one of America's worst policy failures in history. Why would New Hampshire force the black market to continue regulating the God-given plant? A sane argument to cage responsible adults who choose to use cannabis doesn't exist.

Dillon, Colo.

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Tricia Lucas's arguments against legalizing marijuana don't hold up ("A serious risk to public health," Monitor Forum, Nov. 20).

Lucas says marijuana may be addictive. Can you define this? Does this mean a person who has ingested marijuana has done so once again that day, or possibly once again in their lifetime? There is no evidence that marijuana is physically addictive.

She writes about the increased potency and TCH content of modern marijuana. But many varieties of marijuana are bred with the intent of decreased THC in order to provide the medical benefits of other compounds in marijuana, such as increased metabolism, increased cellular uptake of insulin and decreased seizure activity.

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