Members of the New Hampshire state Senate this morning failed to override Governor John Lynch’s veto of SB 409, which sought to allow for the personal possession, cultivation, and use of cannabis by qualified patients. The Senate voted 13 to 10 to override the Governor’s veto. However, 16 total ‘yes’ votes were necessary to achieve the two-thirds Senate majority necessary to enact SB 409 into law.
Although House members had overwhelmingly backed SB 409, Senate support for the measure had consistently been more evenly split, with Senate members having previously voted 13-9 in favor of the bill. According to a MPP news release, two Democratic Senators, Lou D’Allesandro and Sylvia Larsen, reversed their prior ‘yes’ votes on the bill and decided to uphold the veto of Gov. Lynch, who is also a Democrat.
In 2009, Gov. Lynch vetoed a separate medicinal cannabis law. That year, members of the Senate also fell just shy of the votes necessary to override him.
While today’s outcome is disappointing, the future nonetheless looks bright for the passage medical cannabis legalization in New Hampshire. Lynch, a four-term governor, recently announced that he would not be seeking re-election in 2012. Hopefully, New Hampshire’s next Governor will listen to the will of its people and to the majority of state lawmakers and sign medical marijuana legalization into law. If so, the Granite State will soon join fellow New England states Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont — all of which now allow for the possession and use of cannabis as a medicine.
The majority has spoken! Unfortunately it was going to take a supermajority to win the day. For a silver lining, at least there is a majority of support in both houses of the NH Legislature.
I wonder if the medpot forces will make this issue big enough to get noticed in the next gubernatorial campaign? That seat of power needs to be taken by someone on our side!
So depressing. Yes, being close to an override is progress, but America was ready for this. The East Coast has few actual havens for medical marijuana refugees. NH is a top choice for freedom in most other ways, thus it would have been ideal to relocate to. I hope NH citizens will stay on this and get it done to increase the population of freedom lovers.
TISK TISK! This is a PRIME example of this country not being a true democracy AT ALL. The people of New Hampshire have spoken as a majority and the House and Senate, representatives of said people, had voted for the people to pass it. Then, this no-talent-ass-clown comes in and veto’s it. I’m sorry but someone should slap the taste out of his mouth.
I love this country and our elected officials because they represent and enact the will of the people. Lol jk they’re more concerned with their own agenda.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Lynch is planning a Christmas trip to the Cayman Islands and make a withdraw on the extra money had made being a Governor.
Lynch should step down early, just as any political voted-in representative should do when they forget that their position was to “Reperesent the people” not his personal view. Godd-bye Gov. Lynch and good riddens to all fallen political respresentativeso f the people. The PEOPLE WILL have the final say.
This man has ruined his political career. At the same time this is happening over here in Chicago our city council voted i think 38-2 in favor of only giving tickets. Chicago’s Mayor knows change is coming and he is going with it instead of fighting against it. That is what everyone wil have to do if they want to get elected again. They don’t realize how many people are coming out to vote this year just becasue of this issue. This will be my first vote at 33 and I don’t know anyone my age or younger that would vote agianst legalizing. Plus everyone I know my parents age also agree it is an unfair law.
His job is to represent the people who voted him in. Those people want leaglization. So now he is just not doing his job. The people should be able to call for a bote to get him out of office early.
that’s one difference between the the dems (D), and the reppies (R).
the reppies (R) actually VOTE FOR WHAT THEIR BASE WANTS.
EVEN IF THE DEMS HATE IT.
DEMS. DON’T.
they want the reppies to like them,
they want to ‘compromise’ with the reppies.
(that’s where ‘obamacare’ came from, an OBSESSIVE NEED to ‘compromise’ with the reppies)
DEMS have been talking about marijuana legalization since CARTER,
and national health care, since the ‘NEW DEAL’.
(and there is NO serious talk about ending the whole ‘war on drugs’)
ALL TALK, AND NO ACTION, FOR DECADES, REALLY PISSES OFF YOUR BASE !!
WHAT THE F*** ARE THE DEMS WAITING FOR ???
No the American people will not have their say or their way because they are too damned stupid to take a stand in defense of their constitutional right to choose for themselves. So just go on and keep on doing what you are told you can do. Stupid fucking people!!!!
Find out who they are and get rid of them immediately. Run them out of your state if possible.
seig heil mother fuckers…land of the free my fuckin ass. stand up, dig in, lean forward and fight their fire with our smoke. choke them the fuck out
“two Democratic Senators, Lou D’Allesandro and Sylvia Larsen, reversed their prior ‘yes’ votes on the bill and decided to uphold the veto of Gov. Lynch, who is also a Democrat”
Wow, and here I was starting to think that it was the Democrats that we consumers should start supporting…
This just shows you really need to look past the part affiliation and check out the individual before casting your vote. At least this is Lynch’s last term – Good Riddance Lynch!!!
For those that talk about this not being true democracy, you are correct, but you forget that we are not a democracy. We are a republic. With the exception of referendums, our system is designed to have full time representative vote on our behalf on most issues. So let’s get our voting boots on and vote out those who did not vote to override the governors veto.
Our representatives are learning at an increasing rate that this is an issue of importance to the citizens they represent. Continually reminding them of that at the polls will keep the momentum going.
It is frustrating but slow and steady wins the race. We are over one third of the way there.
I love this state. Born and raised here and I saw this coming from the first day it was brought up on a bill. John Lynch doesn’t realize the benefits of having this holy herb brought into and regulated in our state system. Hopefully we get a new Gov. that realizes that cannabis is a significant resource.
Check out http://www.facebook.com/johnbabiarznhgov John Babiarz is running for NH Governor and is for Medical Marijuana.
Like and Share with your NH friends.
Karma’s a bitch Mr Lynch, coming to get ya.
I need a puff
I personally think lynch should be lynched if he is not going to give in to the will of the people. By lynched I do not mean literally. Thank God he won’t be running again.
It’s hard to swallow when a Democrat fails to listen to his constituents and legalize cannabis especially considering the ‘War on Marijuana’ was republican Nixon’s way to arrest all the anti-War Democrats during the ’60s.
Really disappointed. Oh well… New Hampshire will just have to be the oddball of the northeast. Seeing as VT, Maine, CT, Mass, and RI are all way ahead of NH when it comes to changing marijuana laws. New Hampshire is clearly in the stone age.
Check this guys political donors probably big Pharma and the Prison/Police State Industrial Complex. O well he is not running for reelection go crawl back into your cave Lynch the Stone Age man.
A sad day for all of New Hampshire. Live free or die my ass. This Lynch guy is a tool and I can’t wait to see him out of office.
The prohibitionist stance of a vast majority of the politicians from both the |D| & |R| parties in Congress is clearly a measure of the extent to which they are bought-and-paid-for tools of the monopolistic kleptocratic globalists.
This same tyrannical authoritarian stance can also be seen in their support for the national security surveillance police state. Constitution? Pft! Bill of Rights? Pft! Our politicians don’t need to worry about their jobs — they passed the HAVA in 2002 (Help America Vote (Our Way) Act), which replaced actual voters with easily hacked electronic voting machines.
New Hampshire has many admirable qualities, such as their stance on other rights & freedoms, their participatory democracy, and even their state slogan “Live Free Or Die”. This veto over the will of the People illustrates just how deep the rabbit hole goes regarding political corruption.
I sense a storm coming, another revolution rustling in the wind. Universally applied voter recall referendums may be the only way to avert violence. Let’s throw these bums out of office. They are supposed to be working for We The People, not crony corporate interests.