New Hampshire has set itself apart from the rest of New England as the only state in the region that still hasn’t legalized recreational marijuana.
Through ballot initiatives and legislation, cannabis prohibitions have fallen over the past six years, from Maine to Rhode Island. Advocates for marijuana legalization said they never thought the Granite State would stand alone like this.
“I see ‘Live Free or Die’ on every license plate for all 15 years that I’ve been working on this issue, and like a lot of other people, I’m still waiting for the state Legislature to deliver on that promise when it comes to cannabis,” said Matt Simon, of Prime Alternative Treatment Centers of New Hampshire.
Polls have long shown public support for legalization in New Hampshire. the obstacle has been at the State House, where lawmakers have been unable to reach consensus and change has been slow and incremental.
Limited medical marijuana was approved in 2013, and possession of small amounts of cannabis was decriminalized in 2017. Since then, the New Hampshire House of Representatives has regularly voted in favor of legalization, led on the issue, until recently, by the late state Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton.
“It shows that New Hampshire has a willingness to get in step with all the states surrounding it,” Cushing said in 2018.
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