marijuana

Voters in three states will decide whether to legalize recreational use. Earlier this year, Pew reported that 88% of U.S. adults said marijuana should be legal for medical or recreational use.

GraniteLeaf Cannabis, which has a production facility in Peterborough, is one of three corporations approved by the state to grow and sell medical marijuana.

NH Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed a bill that would’ve allowed therapeutic cannabis centers to operate additional cultivation locations, including greenhouses.

Thursday’s outcome, while not shocking given the deep reservation many House members had about this bill’s final form, inverts the typical dynamic in Concord when it comes to marijuana legalization.

Although Massachusetts voters opted to legalize marijuana more than seven years ago, the state's Cannabis Control Commission has taken the position that transporting pot across the ocean — whether by boat or plane — risks running afoul of federal laws.

The New Hampshire House and Senate still have to agree on the proposed marijuana legalization legislation.

The vote to reject the plan favored by Gov. Chris Sununu could dampen the chances of legalization passing this year.

Some of the plan's original House sponsors say the Senate's changes went too far.

Alcohol is still more widely used, but 2022 was the first time this intensive level of marijuana use overtook high-frequency drinking, said the study's author, Jonathan Caulkins, a cannabis policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University.

The plan approved by Attorney General Merrick Garland does not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use. The proposed rule recognizses that cannabis has less potential for abuse than some of the nation's most dangerous drugs.