According to a recent study, Manchester, New Hampshire is the third city in America where people smoke the most marijuana per person.
The study found that the average person in Manchester smokes 31.27 grams of marijuana a year, which is third most in the country, after New Britain, Connecticut, and San Francisco, California.
Future of Weed in New Hampshire
Even though the rules are strict, there are a lot of people who use cannabis in Manchester. This makes people wonder what the future holds for cannabis in New Hampshire.
What will the state do? Will it follow the lead of its New England neighbors and allow marijuana for adult use, or will it keep fighting this change? The answer will come with time.
Weed’s Legal Status in New Hampshire
New Hampshire is the only state in New England without recreational marijuana legalization, despite having a high marijuana usage rate.
Since 2013, the state has permitted medicinal marijuana usage for qualified patients; nevertheless, possessing up to 75 grams of marijuana for personal use remains illegal and is subject to a $100 fine. Cannabis is banned from being grown, sold, or distributed, and doing so can result in criminal penalties.
Read more: This Utah County is Known as the “World’s Weed Capital”
The state government has made many attempts to enact legislation to legalize and control marijuana use for adults, but none of them have been successful thus far.
The most recent legislation, House Bill 629, was filed in the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee in January 2023. The law would permit up to six plants to be grown at home and one ounce of marijuana possession for people 21 and older.
A 15% tax on marijuana sales would also be imposed, along with the establishment of a network of authorized producers, merchants, testing labs, and cultivators.
The Benefits of New Hampshire Weed Legalization
People who want to legalize marijuana say that it would be good for New Hampshire in many ways, including bringing in tax money, creating jobs, lowering the cost of police work, and protecting people’s rights.
A pro-legalization group called the Marijuana Policy Project said in a study that New Hampshire could get up to $58 million a year in tax money from legal weed sales, based on the number of people who live there and how much they use.
The study also says that allowing marijuana would save the state $6.8 million in police costs and create over 3,000 jobs.
Some people who want to legalize weed also say that it is better than booze and other drugs and that adults should be able to choose what they use. They also say that weed can help with many health problems, including severe pain, nausea, epilepsy, and PTSD.
Also read: This Massachusetts City Smokes More Cannabis Than Any Other Place
Legalizing Weed in New Hampshire: Challenges
- Lack of popular support: Only 49% of people in New Hampshire want marijuana to be legal, and there is a big partisan gap on this topic. Chris Sununu, the governor, is against marijuana and will kill any bill that comes to his desk.
- Concerns about public health and safety: People who are against marijuana say they are worried about the health and social problems that could come from weed, like making it harder to drive, giving teens and young adults easier access to it, causing addiction and mental illness, and lowering academic and work performance.
- The economic uncertainty of legalization: People who are against legalization question the economic benefits of it, saying that the costs of controlling the industry, following the laws, and fixing the problems that would happen to public health and safety would be too high.