Election results create a challenging road for legalization 

New Hampshire is the only state in New England that hasn’t legalized cannabis for adults. The Granite State remains an island of prohibition despite its “Live Free” motto and voters’ overwhelming support for legalization.

The state came within a hair’s breadth of legalizing in 2024, with both chambers passing different versions of a legalization bill and Gov. Chris Sununu (R) saying he would sign it.

However, dozens of House members who had supported the bill initially voted to table a Senate-passed version. Many disliked the “franchise model” for retail sales, along with its delayed January 2026 effective date for legal possession. Some expressed optimism that the state would elect a Democratic governor who would sign a stronger bill. However, that did not materialize. In November 2024, voters elected a governor who opposes legalization — Kelly Ayotte (R) — making the path to legalization more challenging.

But we’re not giving up hope. Millions of Americans — including several governors — have evolved on the issue. Popular support has doubled in the last two decades. We’ll continue the push to legalize in the Granite State until we get past the finish line.

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2024 Cannabis Proposals Meet Mixed Fates

Several other cannabis policy bills were also introduced in 2024, both good and bad.

Then Gov. Sununu signed into law an important bill (HB 1278) allowing any debilitating condition to qualify for medical cannabis. He also signed a bill (SB 357) to allow any health care professionals who are licensed to prescribe drugs to humans to certify patients for therapeutic cannabis.

On the disappointing side, Gov. Sununu signed an “open container” bill into law. SB 426 imposes a $150 fine on anyone transporting cannabis (other than therapeutic cannabis) in a location other than the trunk or — if there is no trunk — either the glove compartment or the compartment least accessible to the driver. In the case of a driver, a license suspension is also possible. For those under 21, the cannabis need not be in an “open container” to result in a possible drivers license suspension.

Several medical cannabis improvement bills were sent to interim study, and ultimately died. This includes bills to double possession limits, allow medical cannabis home cultivation, and to codify employment protections for medical cannabis patients.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jonah Wheeler's groundbreaking HB 1539 would have "automatically" annulled violation and possession-level cannabis offenses, while creating a state-initiated process to consider re-sentencing for all other cannabis offenses. This MPP-supported bill passed the House in a landslide 283-80 vote but was sent to an interim study by the Senate.

For more information on these and other bills proposed in 2024, check out our summary.

N.H.'s decriminalization and annulment laws

On July 18, 2017, then Governor Chris Sununu signed HB 640, a cannabis decriminalization bill, into law. The law reduced penalties for possessing three-quarters of an ounce or less of cannabis from a criminal misdemeanor to a civil violation punishable only by a fine (a summary of the law is here).

Then, in 2019, Gov. Sununu signed HB 399, which allows people who received misdemeanor convictions for possessing small amounts of cannabis prior to decriminalization to have their records annulled. 

MPP advocated for decriminalization in New Hampshire for more than a decade in advance of this victory, along with the annulment bill. However, we know that this progress would not have been possible without the hard work of our many dedicated allies. In particular, we are grateful to attorney Paul Twomey, the ACLU-NH, the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, and HB 640 sponsor Rep. Renny Cushing (who passed away on March 7, 2022) for their tireless efforts in support of sensible cannabis policy reforms. 

N.H.'s therapeutic cannabis laws 

MPP was proud to work alongside patients and allies for more than a decade to pass medical cannabis legislation into law in the Granite State. On July 23, 2013, then-Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) signed New Hampshire’s medical cannabis bill (HB 573) into law. This followed several challenges, including Gov. John Lynch (D) vetoing medical cannabis legislation in 2009.

But we didn’t give up, and now thousands of patients are finding relief from the program. MPP has  also supported expanding the law. For more information about the program — and for an application — visit the Therapeutic Cannabis Program website.

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