NH House passes mandatory minimums for fentanyl possession and reduces punishments for shrooms

Yahoo

05-06-2025

The New Hampshire House of Representatives debates bills during a voting session in the State House Thursday afternoon. Earlier Thursday, they approved Senate Bill 14, which institutes mandatory minimums for fentanyl possession. (Photo by William Skipworth/New Hampshire Bulletin)
The New Hampshire House of Representatives voted, 214-167, Thursday to pass Senate Bill 14, which creates mandatory minimums for fentanyl possession and reduces the penalty for people caught with psilocybin mushrooms.
If enacted, SB 14 would create mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted on fentanyl charges. That includes manufacturing, selling, transporting, or possessing the drug with the intent to sell. People convicted with 20 grams or more of the drug would face at least 3½ years in prison under the bill. People convicted with 50 or more grams would face no less than seven years. There is currently no minimum sentence under state law, which gives judges leeway to decide. There is, however, a maximum of 30 years on the first offense and life imprisonment for repeat offenders. The bill was previously approved by the Senate in February.
'The people asked us for law and order,' Rep. Terry Roy, a Deerfield Republican, said on the House floor. 'Let's give them law and order.'
One Republican lawmaker doubted the bill's minimums would actually be impactful.
'Twenty grams plus of fentanyl possession is almost certainly gonna be prosecuted as a federal crime,' Rep. Kevin Verville, a Deerfield Republican, said. 'The odds of the state actually using this bill when it becomes law is infinitesimally small in my opinion.'
The representative characterized the mandatory minimums as something being done for show.
'You can campaign on law and order on this,' Verville said. 'In my opinion, that's what this is.'
However, the bill was amended on the House floor to add a provision that aligns with one of Verville's biggest priorities as a legislator. That provision reduces the penalty for possession of psilocybin, a psychedelic drug commonly known as magic mushrooms or shrooms.
Under the amended bill, possession or use of less than three-quarters of an ounce of psilocybin would be a misdemeanor on first offense as opposed to a felony, which is currently state law under the Controlled Drug Act. Verville is the sponsor of another bill, House Bill 528, that would reduce the penalty to a simple violation. Verville and his colleagues have argued it's less dangerous than other harder drugs and that it has medicinal benefits such as treatment for PTSD or migraines.
HB 528 was approved by the House in March. Verville is a vocal proponent of fully legalizing psilocybin, though he has acknowledged he doesn't believe he can convince enough of his colleagues of that, so he settled for this measure. Verville urged his colleagues to approve SB 14.
'What this bill now has in it is it has real psychedelic reform for the citizens of New Hampshire,' he said. 'Compounds that help people beat alcoholism, opioid addiction, other drug addiction, depression, post-traumatic stress syndrome.'
Verville said SB 14 'finally ends a felony charge for simple possession for a small amount of psilocybin,' which he called 'an excellent trade.' He also argued that the minimum sentences outlined by the bill were 'fairly short.'
'The benefit of the psilocybin far outweighs — far outweighs — any mandatory minimums,' he said. 'I'm begging you.'
Eight Democrats joined Republicans to pass the bill, while six Republicans bucked their party to vote against it. Most Democrats were opposed to the legislation.
'I want to be clear, SB 14, like several other bills, is not about crime,' Rep. Linda Harriott-Gathright, a Nashua Democrat, said.
Harriott-Gathright pointed out that fentanyl possession is already illegal and punished severely by law. She, and many of her Democratic colleagues, argued that mandatory minimums were ineffective at hindering crime.
'The question before us today is whether we think adopting mandatory minimums and maximums, an outdated one-size-fits-all solution, is going to be an effective use of taxpayer dollars to address the many substance issues in our state,' she continued. 'The bottom line is that our country has already tried that approach. … We all know that it has failed.'
She said the bill 'robs judges of their ability to fully consider all relevant facts and circumstances and 'undermines basic principles of justice.' She also argued the psilocybin provision was 'likely to vanish in committee of conference,' the process where House and Senate members negotiate the differences between their bills.
Because the bill was amended by the House, it will return to the Senate to be reconsidered. The Senate can now either accept the amendment, enter the committee of conference process to hash out its differences with the House, or reject the bill outright.
Enacting the mandatory minimums has been a priority for Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who publicly called on lawmakers to bring the legislation to her desk. A similar bill, Senate Bill 15, would've created even harsher minimum sentences for cases where a death was involved. It would've created a minimum sentence of 10 years for people who illegally manufactured, sold, or dispensed fentanyl that resulted in someone dying. The Senate approved that bill the same day as SB 14 in February. However, that bill was retained in committee and has not yet been considered by the full House.