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New Hampshire House lawmakers have taken up a bipartisan bill that seeks to put a constitutional amendment on the state ballot that would let voters decide if they want to legalize “a modest amount” of marijuana for adults 21 and older.
As lawmakers in both chambers consider a variety of cannabis reform proposals for the 2026 session, the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday took up legislation from Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D) that would put the issue before voters.
The proposal would allow adults 21 and older to “possess a modest amount of cannabis for their personal use.” If enacted, the constitutional amendment would appear on the November 2026 state ballot.
Here’s the text of what would go to before on the November ballot under CACR19:
“Are you in favor of amending the first part of the constitution by inserting after article 2-b a new article to read as follows:
[Art.] 2-c. [Adult possession of cannabis.] All adults who are 21 years of age or older shall have the right to possess a modest amount of cannabis intended for their personal consumption.”
Testifying at the hearing, Wheeler called New Hampshire an “island of illegality” surrounded by other states that have already legalized marijuana.
“This very simply would put on the ballot in the next November election whether or not the people of the state of New Hampshire want to legalize cannabis,” he said. “And I think it is given where they are in the polls… The very bare minimum that we could do in this legislature to put the complex issues that we seem to not be able to find a solution to, to the people.”
Rep. Heath Howard (D), who is cosponsoring the proposal, said lawmakers “need to address a fundamental failure of leadership that has persisted within these halls for far too long.”
“For years, people of New Hampshire have been watching their neighbors across New England—from Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts— [and] even Canada embrace common sense legalization,” he said. “While the government here in Concord has consistently failed to provide even a basic viable option for simple usage and possession, this legislative stalemate has ignored the clear will of our constituents, with over 70 percent of Granite Staters consistently favoring reform.”
Rep. Jared Sullivan (D), another cosponsor of the measure, said “it’s time for us to stop arresting people” for cannabis.
“I think it’s pretty sad that in New Hampshire, a state that prides itself in trying to be less regulatory and less big government, we continue to arrest people for crimes that are not crimes in most states—all the states around us, and many states in this country,” he said. “I think it’s unfortunate that in this process, we ruin the lives of thousands of people and prevent them from being able to participate in all sorts of parts of society because of the criminal record that comes along with these arrests.”
Beside Wheeler, the legislation has nine cosponsors—a mix of Democrats and Republicans that includes Rep. Jared Sullivan (D), who is championing a separate legalization measure that cleared the House earlier this month.
In the Senate, meanwhile, the Judiciary Committee last week took up a bill from Sen. Donovan Fenton (D) that 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.
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) projects that the bill would generate an estimated $27-56 million per year in revenue once the market matures.
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.
This month, the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee also took up a pair of bipartisan bills to legalize the regulated use of psilocybin for medical purposes.
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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 Philip Steffan.
Kyle Jaeger is Marijuana Moment’s Sacramento-based managing editor. He’s covered drug policy for more than a decade—specializing in state and federal marijuana and psychedelics issues at publications that also include High Times, VICE and attn. In 2022, Jaeger was named Benzinga’s Cannabis Policy Reporter of the Year.
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