New Hampshire Candidates For Governor Differ Sharply On Marijuana Legalization In Latest Debate

One of the sharpest differences between the two major candidates for New Hampshire governor is their differing stances on marijuana legalization: Republican Kelly Ayotte, who has a narrow lead in the polls, says she would oppose the policy change, while Democrat Joyce Craig has pledged to support it.

During a debate hosted by New Hampshire Public Radio on Tuesday, Craig said she would back a legalization model that “supports our small businesses, our our local farmers, and that provides local control.”

“Obviously has to be properly regulated and labeled,” added the former Manchester mayor, “and I would suggest that the revenues that we receive from this be put toward public education and affordable housing, two things that we need to focus on over the next few years.”

She also noted that polls show that “the vast majority” of residents support legalization, with nearly 70 percent of people in favor, according to polls.

Ayotte, for her part, said she doesn’t think New Hampshire needs legal marijuana, raising concerns over youth use and mental health, driving safety and problem drug use.

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“One of the deep concerns I have about legalizing marijuana is the impact that marijuana has on youth mental health,” said the former U.S. senator and state attorney general. “Also, the studies show between the ages of 15 and 25 that it actually increases incidents of anxiety, schizophrenia [and] mental health issues, and I don’t want to add that to the mix with challenges we already have on mental health.”

Ayotte also repeated a talking point she’s used regularly on the campaign trail, suggesting the drug recovery community is not on board with legalization. “I have yet to meet someone in recovery who thinks we should legalize marijuana as we take on, you know, the challenges we have with addiction in the state,” she said.

While the two candidates are sharply divided on the matter, the issue of legalization in New Hampshire is hardly a partisan one. Lawmakers this past legislative session nearly passed a Republican-sponsored adult-use legalization measure—one that outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said he’d support—but House Democrats narrowly voted to table it at the last minute.

The move, however, sparked accusations that politicians were using the issue to earn the party votes at the ballot box in November. But most who voted against the bill said they were opposed to the plan on its merits, pointing to the proposal’s state-controlled franchise model, which would have given the state unprecedented sway over retail stores and consumer prices.

A poll released this summer showed 61 support for that bill among residents—just a few percentage points shy of the 65 percent support that respondents to a separate poll said they had for legalization generally.

A few weeks ago, Ayotte attacked Craig’s plan to legalize marijuana and use the new tax revenue to fund schools and affordable housing.

“Joyce Craig can smoke her way to a balanced budget, but I’m going to do it the old-fashioned way,” Ayotte, a former U.S. senator and state attorney general, said in an interview with WMUR-TV. “We’re going to live within our means.”

During an earlier interview with legalization advocates, Craig said she opposed putting the Liquor Commission at the helm of the cannabis industry, instead favoring smaller, private businesses run by local owners.

The Democrat also said she believes the state should move quickly to establish its own cannabis industry before the federal government opens state borders to cannabis commerce and favors a legalization structure that disincentivizes large or multi-state operators dominating New Hampshire’s market.

New Hampshire lawmakers also worked extensively on marijuana legalization last year, working toward a compromise that would enact the reform through a multi-tiered system that would include state-controlled shops, dual licensing for existing medical cannabis dispensaries and businesses privately licensed to individuals by state agencies. The legislature ultimately hit an impasse on the complex legislation, however.

Bicameral lawmakers also convened a state commission tasked with studying legalization and proposing a path forward last year, though the group ultimately failed to arrive at a consensus or propose final legislation.

The Senate defeated a more conventional House-passed legalization bill last year, HB 639, despite its bipartisan support.

Since the end of this year’s regular legislative session, Sununu did approve some more minor marijuana reforms. Perhaps most notably, he signed into a law a significant medical marijuana expansion bill to allow doctors to recommend cannabis for any debilitating condition they believe it would improve. Previously, patients needed to be diagnosed with certain specific conditions to qualify for legal marijuana access.

Enactment of that measure came after the governor signed two other medical marijuana expansion bills: one that added generalized anxiety disorder as a qualifying condition and another that allowed more healthcare providers to certify patients for the state’s medical marijuana program.

Separately, a New Hampshire House committee earlier this month declined to move forward with a bill that would have established a state-regulated therapeutic psychedelic program modeled after the current medical marijuana system, but members of the panel generally agreed that lawmakers should pursue future legislation to expand legal access to substances like psilocybin and LSD.

But for now, lawmakers said, the state isn’t ready to legalize and regulate entheogens that remain federally illegal.

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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.