Where Do the Candidates Stand on Marijuana Issues?

According to Matt Simon, the New England political director for the Marijuana Policy Project, a new poll released last week shows that 59 percent of Granite Staters favor ending marijuana prohibition, with only 35 percent opposed. Unfortunately, he noted in a recent email, both candidates for governor disagree with the majority of New Hampshire residents, and most State Senate candidates are not yet ready to consider the issue.

“On the bright side, many senators and candidates for Senate are now saying they support decriminalizing marijuana possession,” Simon stated. “The House has approved five decriminalization bills since 2008, so MPP will focus on trying to pass this reform into law in 2015.”

Although Gov. Maggie Hassan has said she opposes decriminalization, Simon stated, the MPP’s voter guide shows that her position appears to have evolved slightly since this spring. Her opponent, Walt Havenstein, has gone further than Hassan, saying on Oct. 20 that, “unless the [decriminalization] bill was extraordinarily unacceptable, I wouldn’t veto it,” according to Simon.

Simon also said that there were some “interesting surprises to be found in the voter guide,” including the District 4 (Barrington, Dover, Rollinsford, and Somersworth) state representative race which has a pro-decriminalization, Republican former police chief, Eddie Edwards, facing off against incumbent state Sen. David Watters, who is a Democrat, “who remains undecided on the issue,” according to Simon.

The full voter guide can be found at this link.