Sununu signals pivot for New England’s last ‘dry’ state on marijuana

Famously libertarian New Hampshire now stands alone in prohibiting pot

New Hampshire has long sold itself as a place where one can “live free,” a mantra that among other policies has translated into ultra-low taxes and minimal restrictions on personal behavior — it’s a state where residents are not even required to purchase auto insurance or wear seat belts.

Marijuana, however, stands as a notable exception to the state’s famously libertarian image.

On Wednesday, when Rhode Island Governor Daniel J. McKee signed a long-debated bill legalizing cannabis in his state, New Hampshire officially became the last jurisdiction in New England that still prohibits the use and possession of small amounts of marijuana.

While the state has decriminalized the drug and oversees a limited medical marijuana market for patients with certain conditions, several bipartisan attempts by New Hampshire’s 400-seat House of Representatives to legalize it — including a bill calling for state-run pot shops — have all died in the more conservative 24-member Senate or on the desk of Republican Governor Chris Sununu.

A longtime staunch opponent of legalization, Sununu in 2019 vetoed a bill that would have allowed medical marijuana patients to grow six plants at home, and in 2018 he enlisted the help of a national anti-legalization group to campaign against the policy “regardless of what the language looks like,” citing the opioid crisis.

But suddenly, Sununu is whistling a very different tune, even if it’s not exactly “Smoke Two Joints.” [Read More @ The Boston Globe]