Marijuana Moment reports
The Granite State’s legislature is currently under GOP control, and that’s created complications for lawmakers hoping to join their neighbors in ending cannabis prohibition and establishing a regulated sales system. Rep. Tony Labranche (D) wants to see that policy change enacted, but he also has his eyes set on ending the drug war more holistically.
The 19-year-old state representative spoke with Marijuana Moment this week about his plans to push legislation to end the criminalization of people who use or possess so-called magic mushrooms and also generally decriminalize possession of any controlled substance.
“It’s the right thing to do. Personally, I don’t think anybody who suffers from substance use disorder should be criminalized, period,” Labranche said. “In some cases, like magic mushrooms, those aren’t the hard drugs that are dangerous. And I believe that people should have the right to use it and it should be legalized.”
Whether the legislature currently has the appetite to advance the bold drug reform proposals that Labranche is championing is yet to be seen. But at the very least, he’s helping to advance the conversation—and it’s a dialogue that’s increasingly being led by a younger generation of lawmakers.
Earlier this year, for example, a 20-year-old Kansas lawmaker introduced a bill to broadly decriminalize drug possession in the state.
Both Labranche and Kansas Rep. Aaron Coleman (D) said that they’ve been motivated by successful efforts to end drug criminalization in a growing number of jurisdictions, especially as it concerns marijuana and psychedelics.
19-Year-Old New Hampshire Lawmaker Prepares Bills To Decriminalize Psilocybin And All Drugs
