Marijuana Legalization In New Hampshire Appears Dead For The Year As Senate Tables House-Passed Simple Possession Bill
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“A lot of the disagreements,” Sullivan said last month, “are generally on how to sell it. This bill doesn’t touch that.”
Opponents, however, including law enforcement, anti-drug groups and Republicans on the Senate committee, said the legislation would send the wrong message to children and fail to ensure product safety.
Sen. Daryl Abbas (R), who last year hesitantly supported legalization but this year has staunchly opposed it, complained in committee that the bill’s supporters were referring to the criminalization of marijuana possession “an injustice.”
“All I can hear people talk about is an injustice that I personally feel could have been resolved with prior legislation,” he said, ostensibly referring to last year’s legalization bill. “This is going to be just an open policy that just allows it to be everywhere.”
Recent state polling suggests New Hampshire residents strongly favor the policy change. Late last month, a Granite State Poll, from the University of New Hampshire’s States of Opinion Project, found 70 percent support for the reform, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents.
“Generally speaking, 70% of Granite Staters strongly (49%) or somewhat (20%) support legalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use in New Hampshire,” the poll said, while “9% are neutral or have no opinion, 21% are somewhat (7%) or strongly (15%) opposed, and less than 1% are unsure.”
“Support for legalization has increased slightly since June 2024 (65%) and remains considerably higher than in the mid-2010s,” it added. “Majorities of Democrats (84%), independents (72%), and Republicans (55%) support legalizing marijuana for personal use.”
Karen O’Keefe, state policies director for the Marijuana Policy Project said that “the New Hampshire Senate has let down voters, 70% of whom support legalizing cannabis possession.”
“At least until next year, the Live Free State will remain the only state in New England where adults are punished for possessing cannabis, making a mockery of its motto,” she told Marijuana Moment.
In addition to tabling Sullivan’s HB 198, the Senate on Thursday also put off action until next week on two other reform bills related to marijuana.
One—HB 190, from Rep. Heath Howard (D)—would increase the possession limit of medical marijuana by patients and caregivers, raising it to four ounces from the current two. Existing 10-day patient purchase limits would also increase from two ounces up to four.
The other—HB 380, from Rep. Suzanne Vail (D)—would adjust penalties around sales of medical cannabis by state-registered patients or caregivers to people who are not enrolled in the state’s medical system.
As Vail described at an earlier committee hearing, “It eliminates the additional felony that carries a potential $300,000 fine and seven-year prison sentence for a patient who diverts their supply to someone who’s not another patient or caregiver.”
Other state laws against unlicensed sales of marijuana would still apply if the bill were enacted.
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Earlier this month, the Senate voted to table a separate cannabis legalization bill—HB 75, from Rep. Kevin Verville (R)—that would have removed state penalties around marijuana-related conduct for adults 21 and older. Unlike legalization measures in other states, however, it would not establish a licensed commercial market or a broader regulatory scheme.
The proposal included no limits on marijuana possession or cultivation, and it would have carved out marijuana from the state’s laws against illicit drug sales—provisions even some reform advocates found too permissive.
The full Senate also tabled bills to allow medical cannabis patients to grow plants at home and permit dispensaries to buy hemp-derived cannabinoids on the commercial market.
Notably, the recent Granite State Poll found that 49 percent of state residents approve of how Ayotte is doing her job in general, while 38 percent disapprove. But support for the governor was split strongly along party lines.
“Nine in ten (89%) Republicans and 49% percent of Independents approve of Ayotte’s performance,” the report says, “but only 11% of Democrats approve.”
About 1 percent of respondents named the Ayotte’s handling of drug policy as their most important reason for disapproval, while zero percent said her handling of drug policy was the main reason for their approval.
Last legislative session, New Hampshire lawmakers nearly passed a bill that would have legalized and regulated marijuana for adults—a proposal that then-Gov. Chris Sununu (R) had indicated he’d support. But infighting over how the market would be set up ultimately scuttled that measure. House Democrats narrowly voted to table it at the last minute, taking issue with the proposal’s state-controlled franchise model, which would have given the state unprecedented sway over retail stores and consumer prices.
A poll from last June found that almost two thirds (65 percent) of New Hampshire residents supported legalizing marijuana. Nearly that same share of residents (61 percent) said at the time that they also supported last session’s failed legalization bill, HB 1633.
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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.
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