New Hampshire senators took up a bill to legalize marijuana in the state on Thursday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee did not vote on the legislation, but members heard testimony both in support of and against the measure.
If enacted into law, SB485 would allow adults over the age of 21 to legally possess up to four ounces of cannabis in plant form and 20 grams of concentrated cannabis products, as well as other products containing no more than 2,000 milligrams of THC.
“New Hampshire is now the only state in New England that has not legalized and regulated cannabis. Every single one of our neighbors has figured this out,” Sen. Donovan Fenton (D), the bill’s lead sponsor told the panel. “Meanwhile, we’re still pretending prohibition is working, while people just drive to Massachusetts, Maine or Vermont legally and bring it back home.”
He called President Donald Trump’s recent federal marijuana rescheduling executive order a “clear signal that even the federal government now recognizes what most Granite Staters already know: Cannabis is not the same category as the most dangerous drugs, and it should be handled with smart and regulated adult approach.”
“So question for New Hampshire is simple, do we lead or do we keep falling further behind?” he said.
Under the legislation, a renamed Liquor and Cannabis Commission would be charged with licensing and regulating marijuana businesses.
Cannabis sales would be taxed at 12.5 percent. Revenue would support various programs and efforts, including offsetting the retirement system’s unfunded accrued liability, public safety agencies, substance misuse programs and children’s behavioral health services.
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) projects that the bill would generate an estimated $27-56 million per year in revenue once the market matures.
“Adults should be treated like grown-ups in the Live Free or Die State. The General Court hasn’t banned eating junk food, being sedentary, rock-climbing, riding motorcycles, or drinking alcohol—despite the risks those activities pose,” Karen O’Keefe, MPP’s state policies director, said in written testimony to the committee. “Granite Staters overwhelmingly agree that adults should also not be punished by their government for using cannabis, a plant that is far less toxic, less addictive, and less harmful to the body than alcohol.”
The Senate panel also took up legislation on Thursday that would let medical cannabis companies covert to for-profit operations, allow greenhouse cultivation locations and regulate and restrict hemp-derived products.
Earlier this month, the New Hampshire House of Representatives approved a separate bill to legalize marijuana.
That bill and the one the Senate took up on Thursday are just two of several cannabis proposals filed for the 2026 session, including legislation from Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D) that seeks to put a constitutional amendment on the state ballot that would let voters decide if they want to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older, allowing them to “possess a modest amount of cannabis for their personal use.”
Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) has already threatened to veto any legalization bill that reaches her desk, though the constitutional amendment proposal would not require gubernatorial action.
The governor said in August that her position on the reform would not change even if the federal government moved forward with rescheduling the plant. Since then, President Donald Trump has directed the attorney general to finalize the process of moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
Meanwhile, the House also approved a bill this month from Rep. Wendy Thomas (D) that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries (known as “alternative treatment centers,” or ATCs, in the state) to convert their dispensary licenses to become for-profit entities. HB 54, which passed on the consent calendar with other legislation, previously advanced unanimously out of the House Finance Committee.
Part of the motivation behind the legislation is the fact that medical marijuana dispensaries don’t qualify for federal non-profit status. But in the state, they’re considered non-profit organizations, which has resulted in disproportionately increased operating costs.
Last week, the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee took up a pair of bipartisan bills to legalize the regulated use of psilocybin for medical purposes.
Other bills filed for 2026 include two proposals to protect the gun rights of medical cannabis patients.
There are also a few pieces of legislation aimed at regulating hemp sales—an issue that’s receiving heightened attention given that Congress passed, and Trump signed, an appropriations bill that would effectively re-criminalize most consumable hemp products.
Meanwhile, after the House added provisions to a Senate-passed bill last year that would allow medical marijuana patients to grow cannabis at home, those measures were stripped in conference.
Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.
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