This article is featured in the 2026 Winter Carnival Issue.
New Hampshire lawmakers are once again weighing whether to legalize recreational marijuana, as the state remains the only one in New England where adult-use cannabis is illegal.
On Jan. 7, the New Hampshire State House of Representatives passed House Bill 186, a bill that would legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older and create a regulated market for cultivation, processing and retail sales. If enacted, the bill would allow adults to possess up to two ounces of cannabis flower, 10 grams of cannabis concentrate and cannabis products containing up to 2,000 milligrams of THC, according to the bill’s text. It would also allow adults to grow six cannabis plants, with three or fewer being mature, flowering plants. The bill was referred to the House Finance Committee following passage.
Despite the House vote, the bill faces steep political headwinds. Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte has historically opposed legalization. New Hampshire lawmakers have debated cannabis reform for years, as several legalization bills have passed in the House only to stall in the Senate due to disagreements about regulation and gubernatorial opposition.
The state has decriminalized small amounts of cannabis and permits medical use, but broader legalization efforts have repeatedly failed. Public support is high: An April 2025 University of New Hampshire poll found that 70% of Granite Staters support legalization. Some legislators have recently explored alternatives such as constitutional amendments or record-annulment bills though those efforts have also faced resistance.
State Rep. Jared Sullivan, D-Grafton, a sponsor of H.B. 186, said he does not expect the bill to become law this year.
“It’s not going to pass,” Sullivan said. “Seventy percent of people want it, including 55% of Republicans, but our governor and Senate are against it.”
Sullivan attributed the roadblock to both political dynamics and institutional opposition.
“It’s just Republican bias,” he said. “[They’ve been] affected by propaganda for most of their lives that it’s like the ‘devil’s lettuce’ and all these crazy terms. I think the biggest part is that the police unions are against it.”
Still, Sullivan supports repeatedly introducing legalization bills as part of a longer-term political strategy.
“I think it’s important because it’s a midterm year,” he said. “We need to turn it into an election issue.”
H.B. 186 frames legalization as both a fiscal and public-policy shift. The bill’s text allocates revenue from a regulated cannabis market to public programs related to the use of both legal and illegal drugs.
Sullivan said revenue is not the primary motivation behind legalization efforts and may not persuade opponents, but he argued it could still play a role for a state navigating budget uncertainty.
“My estimates based on Maine are between $30 and $50 million,” said Sullivan. “We’re running about $40 to $50 million behind budget. So if we had that revenue coming in from cannabis, it would be okay.”
Sullivan also argued that legalization could shift cannabis use from an unregulated market to a system with clearer safety standards and oversight, a theme echoed by some conservative students at Dartmouth who said their support for legalization is driven less by enthusiasm for cannabis and more by concern about the risks of illegal supply.
Dartmouth Turning Point USA president Vito Bloyer ’28 said he supports legalization even though he personally views cannabis use as harmful.
“I don’t necessarily think people should smoke weed,” Bloyer said. “I think it makes you lazy. I think that it can be addictive, just like any other substance.”
However, Bloyer added that he believes current prohibition has not eliminated marijuana use and that an illegal market can create other dangers.
“The fact of the matter is that the black market is just so prevalent,” Bloyer said. “And among the black market, there’s the significant risk of fentanyl.”
He also pointed to challenges other states face in cracking down on illegal markets, arguing that New Hampshire should avoid policies that make legal cannabis uncompetitive.
“Don’t do what California did,” Bloyer said. “The taxes were so high that the legal weed was just so much more expensive than the black market weed.”
Sullivan said his broader approach to legalization is shaped by opposition to what he described as a system that concentrates economic power through limited licensing, an outcome he said New Hampshire nearly saw during a previous legalization attempt.
“I don’t believe in crony capitalism,” Sullivan said, describing a 2024 legislative process he called “very corrupt,” in which the Senate proposed a sharply limited number of licenses. He compared the proposed model to markets where scarcity inflates the value of permits and incentivizes incumbents to block competition.
In interviews, students said New Hampshire’s prohibition does not reflect lived reality, given the close proximity of Vermont’s legal cannabis stores and usage at the College regardless of state law.
A student from Massachusetts, who has been granted anonymity to speak candidly, said they use cannabis “about five times per week.”
“I do think legalization is absolutely the right call, because it’s easier to regulate once it’s legalized,” they said. “When cannabis is purchased through unofficial channels, that’s when the danger starts to arise.”
The student added that they have not found cannabis use to interfere with their academic performance or decision-making.
“I feel that to be a student at Dartmouth, you need to have a good work ethic and good common sense about things like this,” he said. “I have never seen cannabis use impede someone’s natural common sense or their natural work ethic, and that includes all my peers.”
A former member of the Greek Life Council, who has been granted anonymity, said they did not observe marijuana-related safety incidents during their time in leadership.
“I don’t think I experienced any risk-related accidents as a result of marijuana use,” the student said. “I wouldn’t be all too concerned about legalizing it in New Hampshire, especially with us being right on the border of Vermont. I feel like it wouldn’t have too many effects in terms of access to marijuana on campus.”
