New Hampshire Lawmakers Prefile Multiple Marijuana Bills For 2026—Including Measure To Let Voters Legalize On The Ballot

New Hampshire lawmakers have introduced a slew of marijuana-related bills
for the upcoming 2026 session, including proposals to legislatively enact
adult-use legalization—or alternatively leave it up to voters to decide at
the ballot.

After submitting at least a dozen requests for legislative staff to draft
reform marijuana and psychedelics reform bills they plan to sponsor next
year, legislators have now formally prefiled multiple cannabis measures for
consideration in 2026.

One proposal from Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D) stands out, as it seeks to put a
constitutional amendment on the state ballot that would let voters decide
if they want to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older, allowing them
to “possess a modest amount of cannabis for their personal use.”

The measure comes as lawmakers have had difficulty advancing legalization
bills through both chambers in recent sessions, and as current Gov. Kelly
Ayotte (R) has threatened to veto any such bill that reaches her desk.

As a constitutional amendment, Wheeler’s proposal would need supermajority
support from three-fifths of lawmakers in the House and Senate to reach the
ballot, and requires no action on the part of the governor. For GOP
lawmakers who might not want to take a vote to override a veto on a
legalization bill from their own party’s governor, passing the amendment
could be a way to circumvent that situation. If the legalization question
made it to the ballot, it would need support from two-thirds of voters to
be enacted.

Other bills filed for 2026 include another to legalize marijuana possession
stautorily, two to protect the gun rights of medical cannabis patients and
another that would make it so medical marijuana dispensaries could operate
on a for-profit basis, as is the case in the majority of states that have
legalized the plant.

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 President Donald Trump signed, an appropriations bill that
would effectively re-criminalize most consumable hemp products.

*Here are the summaries of the newly filed bills:*

*Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D)*—CACR 19: relative to the personal possession of
cannabis. Providing that adults 21 years of age or older shall have the
right to possess a modest amount of cannabis intended for their personal
consumption.

*Rep. Jared Sullivan (D)*—HB 1235: legalizing certain quantities of
cannabis.

*Sen. Keith Murphy (R)*—SB 462: relative to the right of therapeutic
cannabis patients to purchase, possess, and transfer firearms in accordance
with state law.

*Tom Mannion (R)*—HB 1446: providing that an individual’s use of
therapeutic cannabis shall not disqualify the individual from the purchase,
ownership, or possession of a firearm.

*Sen. Daniel Innis (R)*—SB 479: allowing alternative treatment centers to
operate for profit.

*Sen. Bill Gannon (R)*—SB 400: relative to duties and reporting
requirements of the therapeutic cannabis medical oversight board.

*Sen. Donovan Fenton (D)*—SB 461: relative to the definition of hemp.

*Sen. Timothy Lang (R)*—SB 485: relative to the licensure, regulation and
taxation of hemp-based derivative products.

*Sen. Bill Gannon (R)*—SB 624: restricting access to certain hemp-derived
products.

“It has long appeared obvious to many Granite Staters that cannabis
prohibition violates our state Constitution. Article I holds that rightful
government policies must be ‘founded in consent,’ so how can a policy as
unpopular as cannabis prohibition possibly meet that standard?” Matt Simon,
director of public and government relations at the medical marijuana
provider GraniteLeaf Cannabis, told Marijuana Moment on Friday.

“Sadly, lawmakers have repeatedly thwarted the will of voters on this
issue, so a constitutional amendment may turn out to be not only
appropriate but necessary,” he said.

(Disclosure: Simon supports Marijuana Moment’s work with a monthly pledge
on Patreon.)

So far, proposals to reform state laws around psychedelics like psilocybin
that certain lawmakers requested staff to draft have not been formally
filed for the next session.

In October, meanwhile, a New Hampshire House Finance subcommittee advanced
a bill to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in the state to convert from
non-profit organizations to for-profit businesses.

Another New Hampshire House committee recently discussed plans to move
forward with a bill to legalize marijuana altogether–even though members
accept that it is unlikely to advance beyond the chamber given opposition
in the Senate and the threat of a veto by the governor.

“We know where it’s going to go. Let’s send a virtue signal,” the sponsor
of the legalization proposal, Rep. Jared Sullivan (D), said during a House
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee hearing last month. “Let them be
the ones that are pissing off voters who care about this.”

Sullivan ultimately made a persuasive defense of moving forward with his
original bill, pointing out that the House has repeatedly passed similar
legalization legislation and that the chamber should stand its ground,
forcing the Senate and governor to again go on record with their opposition
to a policy popular among voters.

Meanwhile, after the House added provisions to a Senate-passed bill that
would allow medical marijuana patients to grow cannabis at home, those
measures were stripped in conference.

The governor also said in August that her position on marijuana
legalization would not change even if the federal government moved forward
with rescheduling the plant—a policy change President Donald Trump is
actively considering.

“If federal law changes, I have to comply with federal law,” Ayotte said.
“But my position has been, and continues to be, that we should not legalize
marijuana in the future.”

*Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer. *

The post New Hampshire Lawmakers Prefile Multiple Marijuana Bills For
2026—Including Measure To Let Voters Legalize On The Ballot appeared first
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