Cannabis News
New Hampshire Senators Debate Bill To Legalize Marijuana, With Sponsor Saying Trump’s Rescheduling Move Means State Must Act
New Hampshire senators took up a bill Thursday to legalize marijuana in the state.
The Senate Judiciary Committee did not vote on the legislation, but members heard testimony for and against the measure.
If enacted into law, SB485 would allow adults 21 and older to possess 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.
“New Hampshire is now the only state in New England that has not legalized and regulated cannabis. Every one of our neighbors has figured that out,” Sen. Donovan Fenton (D), the bill’s lead sponsor, told the panel. “Meanwhile, we’re pretending the ban is working, while people legally drive to Massachusetts, Maine or Vermont and drive back home.”
President Donald Trump called the recent executive order to re-regulate marijuana “a clear signal that the federal government now recognizes what most of the Granite State knows: cannabis is not the same category as the most dangerous drugs, and should be managed with a smart, regulated adult approach.”
“So the question for New Hampshire is simple, do we lead or do we fall behind?” he said
Under the legislation, a Liquor and Cannabis Commission would be appointed to license and regulate marijuana businesses.
Cannabis sales would be taxed at 12.5 percent. The revenue would support a variety of programs and efforts, including offsetting the unfunded liability of the retirement system, public safety agencies, substance abuse programs and children’s behavioral health services.
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) predicts the bill will generate $27-$56 million in annual revenue once the market matures.
“Adults should be treated like adults in a live-or-die state. The Supreme Court has not banned eating junk food, being sedentary, rock climbing, riding motorcycles or drinking alcohol, despite the dangers these activities pose,” MPP state policy director Karen O’Keefe said in written testimony. “The Granite States fully agree that even adults should not be punished by their government for using cannabis, a plant that is far less toxic, addictive and addictive than alcohol.”
The Senate panel also took up legislation Thursday that would allow medical cannabis companies to keep their nonprofit operations under wraps, allow greenhouse cultivation locations, and regulate and restrict hemp-derived products.
Earlier this month, The New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a bill to legalize marijuana.
That bill and the one the Senate took up Thursday are just two of the cannabis proposals introduced for the 2026 session, including legislation by Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D) that seeks to put a constitutional amendment on the state ballot. let voters decide whether they want to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older“having a modest amount of cannabis for their personal use.”
Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) has already threatened to veto the legalization bill that reaches his desk, even though the proposal to amend the Constitution would not require gubernatorial action.
The governor said in August his position on the reform it would not change, even if the federal government moved forward with reorganizing the plant. Since then, President Donald Trump has ordered the attorney general to complete the process of moving cannabis from Schedule I to III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
Meanwhile, the House also passed a bill this month by Rep. Wendy Thomas (D). allow medical marijuana dispensaries (known in the state as “alternative treatment centers” or ATCs) to convert their dispensary licenses into nonprofit entities.. HB 54, which adopted a concurrence schedule with other laws, had previously advanced unanimously out of the House Finance Committee.
Part of the motivation behind the legislation is the fact that medical marijuana dispensaries are not for-profit federal states. But in the state, they are considered non-profit organizations, which has disproportionately increased their operating costs.
Last week, the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee took up a pair of bipartisan bills legalize the regulated use of psilocybin for medical purposes.
Other bills introduced in 2026 include two proposals to protect the gun rights of medical cannabis patients.
There’s also some legislation aimed at regulating the sale of hemp, an issue that’s getting a lot of attention since 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 bill passed by the Senate last year that would have allowed medical marijuana patients to grow cannabis at home, those measures were removed in the conference.
user photo Brian Shamblen.
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Cresco Labs has obtained a Texas Compassionate Use Program License. It is a vertically integrated license that allows Cresco Labs to cultivate, process and distribute medical cannabis.
“Texas patients deserve access to consistent, quality medicine, and we’re excited. Our track record in medical markets reflects our ability to build strong programs that put patients and communities first,” said Charlie Bachtell, CEO of Cresco Labs. “Winning a license in Texas through a merit-based application demonstrates Cresco Labs’ deep regulatory expertise and thoughtful approach to meaningful local engagement. Organic licenses enable capital-efficient market entry, and our cash flow and balance sheet give us the financial flexibility to invest in and grow our scaled platform for the long term.”
This license advances Cresco Labs’ state-by-state growth strategy and ensures access to one of the largest patient populations in the United States. Texas is the nation’s second most populous state, approaching 30 million people, and continues to see ongoing legislative efforts to improve patient access and expand eligibility.
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Germany imported 2025 tons of medical cannabis. Part of that volume came from a Portuguese processor whose license had been revoked, which was unloaded below cost as it was reinstated. The episode sparked attention, and consequences followed. PTMC’s Joao Duarte believes that most of these conclusions are wrong. “Eight tons is not even 5% of what Germany consumes per year,” he says. “For that to result in price dumping, the math just doesn’t work.”
Structural price pressure
According to him, the price pressure in Portugal is mainly structural. “The more countries that get into production and start exporting, the lower the prices will be. Today, Colombia is exporting, Costa Rica is exporting, and Brazil, with the scale it can bring to outside cultivation, is not far behind. Canada has been the main volume supplier to markets in Germany, Australia, Israel and the UK due to the strength of low-priced flowers from European producers. Again, and fast.” It draws a direct line with what happened in the CBD market in previous years, when prices were compressed as supply expanded and operators without cost or quality advantages found themselves without a market. Medical flower THC, he says, is following the same logic over a longer timeline.
To lift the burden of this price pressure, the answer obviously lies in the right regulations and policies. These should be based on the principles of providing high quality medicines to patients. To achieve this, the flowers must reach the consumers shortly after they are picked. As simple as it sounds, proximity is Portugal’s real advantage. “The fresher the flower is when it reaches the patient, the better the quality,” he says. “Only proximity gives that.”
© Henner Damke | Dreamstime
A turning point
As for the regulatory issue, Joao points to Portugal’s eight-year history of medical cannabis as a distinguishing feature, following last year’s police raids. Organizations that have long been involved in the licensing and enforcement framework have developed standards and experience in applying them. “Our GMP standards are real,” he says. “They are not a number on a certificate.”
The damage to the reputation of these raids, in his opinion, is exaggerated. “There is always a scandal in the industry,” he said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s over, that a country’s economic sector has been kicked out. Canada, the largest exporter of cannabis, is the clearest example of that. Everyone remembers the CannTrust scandal in 2019, which made international headlines. That didn’t kill the Canadian industry until it became them, the regulatory system moved in their work. It looks like.”
EU-GMP clearance
One important area is EU GMP clearance, the practice of converting imported flowers through a European facility to obtain certification that the original material would not otherwise carry. “We would have more value growing the flowers than doing the conversion,” he says. For Portuguese producers, the practice reduces the premium that EU GMP certification must entail and makes it more difficult to distinguish domestically grown product from processed imports at the point of sale.
To each his own
Joao does not believe that other European countries can take Portugal’s place in the old continent’s cannabis industry. “This is simply because it’s not one thing for a country to be active in one sector and then push out another. It’s an open market, everyone participates at different levels.” As a neighbor, Joao cites Spain as an example. The country currently has less than ten licensed producers and has yet to build the export infrastructure or regulatory track required by the markets. “I don’t see Spain coming and taking over,” he says. “Both Spain and Portugal will take market share. Operators with established contracts will continue to move product. After that, it’s about quality and price.”
Denmark, he says, is an immediate competitive variable, producing significant quantities and moving into European markets with momentum. Portugal is currently among the top three to five exporters to Germany and has established positions in Australia, Israel and the United Kingdom. “This reflects accumulated capacity rather than regulatory time, and it’s not something that goes away because a processor loses its license,” he says.
A common European pricing policy, along the lines of the state-controlled model in France, is a mechanism that the industry should collectively push for. Without this, individual producers are left to absorb the cost pressures of suppliers operating on a scale that European policy has no current framework for. “We should aim to have good flowers,” he says. “We must not aim to demolish Portugal.”
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