Committees in New Hampshire on Wednesday took action on a handful of marijuana bills, advancing a plan that would legalize the simple possession by adults as well as a proposal to double existing possession limits for medical cannabis patients and caregivers. They put a pause, however, on broader legislation to legalize and regulate a commercial recreational marijuana market.
At a hearing, the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee gave its approval to two different bills. One—HB 198, from Rep. Jared Sullivan (D)—takes a simple, unregulated approach to marijuana legalization.
If approved, the measure would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to two ounces of marijuana flower, 10 grams of concentrate and up to 2,000 milligrams of THC in other cannabis products.
Retail sales of marijuana products, along with home cultivation, would remain illegal under the plan. Consuming marijuana on public land would also be prohibited.
Another bill—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.
Members of the committee voted 9–7 in favor of HB 198 and 14–0 to advance HB 190.
“We as a body have passed bills legalizing cannabis again and again,” Rep. Alissandra Murray (D), who made the motion to advance HB 198, said before Wednesday’s vote. “The people of New Hampshire have made it clear that they would like us to legalize cannabis.”
Murray described HB 198 as “a common sense compromise, not getting into the weeds, shall we say, with dealing with the retail aspect of selling cannabis, but simply focusing on legalizing it, while ensuring that individuals out in public aren’t going to be exposed to cannabis without their consent.”
New Hampshire lawmakers nearly passed legislation last session 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 proposal. 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.
Separately, another panel, the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee, voted unanimously on Wednesday to retain an alternative legalization bill from Sullivan, effectively putting it on hold. That measure, HB 186, would not only legalize cannabis possession but also license and regulate a commercial marijuana market for adult consumers.
Sullivan explained that he hoped putting the bill on pause would allow lawmakers to return to it later this year to make improvements.
“The most important thing is that we stop arresting people in 2025 for the possession of marijuana,” he told colleagues. “While this bill would do this, I think the complicated part that continues to trip up us in the legislature, historically, has been the method by which we’re going to sell it in the state.”
“I think retaining this will give us a chance to kind of flesh out some of those details,” he added. “We all kind of acknowledge that that’s a steep hill to clime, to allow legalization and sale, and so hopefully this will give us some time in the fall to talk about this and hopefully come to some agreement.”
Rep. John Hunt (R), who chairs the committee, briefly explained that retaining a bill means lawmakers will return in the fall to make adjustments for the next year.
“We’re not passing it, we’re not killing it. We’re retaining it,” Hunt said. “What happens in retaining bills is that we will work on them come September and October, and then it will hit the House floor the first week of January.”
“I highly recommend do not make any plans that first week of January,” he added to colleagues, “because that’s actually a very exciting time, because that means all the bills that were in committee, that were retained in committees, will hit the floor that week.”
Meanwhile, the full New Hampshire House has already passed a competing marijuana legalization bill—HB 75, from Rep. Kevin Verville (R). That proposal would similarly remove penalties around cannabis-related conduct by adults, but unlike Sullivan’s bill, it includes no limits whatsoever on possession or cultivation. It would also carve out marijuana from the state’s laws against illicit drug sales.
State-registered patients or caregivers could, however, have their registration ID cards revoked for selling marijuana no people outside the medical system.
Minors would continue to be barred from using marijuana under the bill. People under 21 would be guilty of a violation if found possessing or using the substance, and anyone under 18 would be referred to a screening for substance use disorders. Adults who use marijuana in a public place would also be guilty of a violation.
The House also recently passed legislation to annul certain criminal records around cannabis and allow medical marijuana patients to grow the plant at home.
It’s widely believed that New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) would stand in the way of any adult-use legalization bill that were to make it to her desk this session, however. A former U.S. senator and state attorney general, Ayotte said repeatedly on the campaign trail last year that she would oppose efforts at adult-use legalization.
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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