Maybe this is the year we finally admit that legalization will happen eventually and just get it over with already.

Marijuana
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Another year, another ray of hope that the New Hampshire government will finally wise up and legalize marijuana for recreational use.

Now I'm not saying that marijuana is the greatest thing and can cure all diseases, but using it is a personal choice that adults should be able to make on their own.

Granite State lawmakers have some bills lined up to legalize weed beyond the many hoops that come with the approved medical marijuana program. Some people want it for medical reasons, but there is nothing wrong with Bobby Sue wanting to use it before watching a Netflix marathon of Adventure Time.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has three different proposed bills for consideration this year:

  1. Legalizes the personal use of up to 2.2 pounds of marijuana by persons 18 years of age or older and authorizes the licensing of marijuana wholesale, retail, cultivation, and testing facilities. Will also impose a tax on marijuana sold or transferred by a marijuana cultivation facility to a marijuana product manufacturing facility or to a retail marijuana store.
  2. Legalizes the personal use of marijuana by persons 21 years of age or older and allows for the cultivation, possession, and use of hemp. Also authorizes the licensing of marijuana wholesale, retail, cultivation, and testing facilities, which can be taxed.
  3. Allows a person 21 years of age or older to possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana and to cultivate no more than 6 marijuana plants without penalty.

I'm going to have to say that I support the 21-year-old or older option that doesn't limit how much of the plant a person can own. Keep a whole shipping container of cannabis in your house for all I care and, personally, I think a person should wait until they are ready for the experience of getting high.

I wouldn't oppose to lowering the age to 18-years-old, but anything below that would be a little too early for kids to take that leap.

Pretty much any person I talk to, even the most conservative of friends, agree that we should be focusing on violent crime and seriously harmful drugs (which can also lead to violent crime.) I would rather have police going after heroin dealers and rapists than busting down the door of a dude enjoying a toke of the ganja in the privacy of his apartment.

I want to see the guy with the blood-covered knife in jail, not the dude eating bags of corn chips.

Wasting police time on a drug that hasn't been proven to do much harm over other legal substances is just silly. We can drink alcohol, we can smoke cigarettes and somehow smoking a joint is a big no-no. I would advise against making it a daily habit, but really it is your choice what you do with your free time.

Oh, look, over half of the state agrees with me that marijuana should be legalized and taxed. Some politicians avoid supporting pot legalization because they are afraid of their re-election chances, but they represent the people and THE PEOPLE want to get this whole legalization thing over with.

It is going to happen. Let's just get it over with already.

(The views expressed on this page belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Townsquare media.)

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