Governor Pivots On Marijuana Legalization In New Hampshire ‘With Right Policy, Framework’

CONCORD, NH — A day after bills in the state Senate legalizing marijuana were voted down by the Republican majority, along party lines, New Hampshire’s GOP governor said he was willing to sign a legalization bill with specific safety criteria.

In a 500-plus word statement Friday, Gov. Chris Sununu, a possible 2024 first-in-the-nation presidential candidate, said after legalizing medical marijuana, decriminalizing small amounts, and never vetoing recreational marijuana, it might be time to consider legalization.

Sununu said, with the right policy and framework in place, he would consider signing a bill that put the state government in the driver’s seat and focused on harm reduction, not profits.

“(New Hampshire) is the only state in New England where recreational use is not legal,” he said. “Knowing that a majority of our residents support legalization, it is reasonable to assume change is inevitable. To ignore this reality would be shortsighted and harmful.”

Some of those safety provisions include having the state control distribution and access; keeping the drug away from children and schools; state control of marketing and messaging — like avoiding billboards, commercials, and digital ads that “bombard kids on a daily basis”; prohibiting “marijuana miles” — strips of shops selling the drug; empowering cities and towns to choose not to allow marijuana sales; reducing access to poly-drugs; and keeping it tax-free — to undercut the cartels who continue to drive the state’s illicit drug market.

“Similar to our liquor sales, this path helps to keep substances away from kids by ensuring the state of New Hampshire retains control of marketing, sales, and distribution — eliminating any need for additional taxes,” he said. “As such, the bill that was defeated in NH this session was not the right path for our state.”

Sununu also raised the issue of black market drugs, including marijuana, which have been found to have been laced with fentanyl. He said this issue poses a “significant risk to our citizens.” By regulating the marijuana market in New Hampshire, “the state will ensure our citizens are in a safer place.”

But his comments — legalizing and regulating marijuana to protect Granite Staters who choose to partake in smoking weed, are the exact opposite of what the governor said in June 2022, outside Concord Hospital, while gathering with doctors, nurses, and law enforcement, warning residents about fentanyl being found laced in other drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine, prescription medications, and marijuana, in New Hampshire and other states.

When questioned (by me), about legalization, noting there were no issues with laced marijuana in states with legal dispensaries and the same could be done here, if everyone could get in a room and iron it all out, Sununu said the concept was ignorant of the problem.

“The idea that legalizing marijuana will combat this problem is pure ignorance,” Sununu said.

Watch the exchange from June 2022 below.

Matt Simon, a long-time marijuana advocate in New Hampshire, said the state monopoly bill received zero votes in the state Senate in 2022 after Senators understood it was unworkable as written.

“To say the bill wasn’t ‘ready for prime time’ would be a huge understatement,” he said on Twitter. “Passing it without further vetting would be a big mistake.”

Any new proposal, he said, would need to be “thoughtful and methodical” and should not just be about what the governor would be willing to sign. It would also need to look at all the best practices from other states and not harm any current entities providing medical marijuana to users in New Hampshire.

Democrats also pounced on the governor with House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm of Manchester, as well as Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy of Manchester and state Sen. Becky Whitley, D-Hopkinton, an assistant leader, saying he was a day late and a dollar short.

“While I appreciate the governor’s willingness to finally engage on cannabis legalization, he conveniently waited until the day after legislation was defeated to weigh in with a post on Medium,” Wilhelm said. “The policy framework proposed by Governor Sununu today is significantly different than what has been debated in the House and Senate over the past four months. Despite Sununu’s sudden, calculated desire to raise his national profile on a popular issue, we will continue approaching cannabis legalization through the methodical, thought-out way that Granite Staters deserve.”

Soucy and Whitley pointed to the state license plate, which are adorned with Live Free or Die — while they cross the state’s surrounding borders to buy their pot.

“It is disappointing that the governor could not work with the Legislature, let alone his own party, to advocate for legalizing cannabis until after the Senate had already killed a bill that could have been the path forward on legalization,” they said. “Rather than simply positioning himself to run for higher office, instead, we would encourage the governor to have a more meaningful role in governing the state moving forward.”

In all three surrounding states, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont, marijuana is legal and sold like liquor or cigarettes, at regulated, licensed dispensaries, so there is no fentanyl lacing. In New Hampshire, marijuana legalization has consistently been rejected by slim margins despite the general public wanting it legal, according to some polls. Marijuana is decriminalized in small amounts.

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