Let me get this straight: 70% of New Hampshire residents support cannabis legalization. That’s not a slim majority, that’s a landslide mandate. And yet, year after year, the New Hampshire Senate responds to this overwhelming public will with all the enthusiasm of a teenager being asked to clean their room.

Here we have the “Live Free or Die” state operating as the last prohibition island in all of New England. Massachusetts? Legal. Maine? Legal. Vermont? Legal. Even Rhode Island figured this out. But New Hampshire is what Senator Bill Gannon proudly called “a drug-free oasis.”

Because nothing says “freedom” quite like arresting your own citizens for doing something that’s perfectly legal 10 minutes down Route 95.

In 2023, Massachusetts generated $263 million in cannabis tax revenue. Maine brought in over $35 million. Vermont collected more than $21 million. New Hampshire? Exactly zero dollars, plus the cost of arresting people.

Massachusetts marijuana establishments surpassed $5 billion in gross sales, creating thousands of jobs. Meanwhile, New Hampshire residents are funding Massachusetts budtenders. We’re literally financing our neighbor’s tax base while our own state budget runs $40 million to $50 million behind.

Representative Jared Sullivan estimates New Hampshire could generate $30 million to $50 million in revenue. That’s real funding for schools, infrastructure and public services. But apparently, our Senate prefers ideological purity over fiscal responsibility.

This isn’t a close call. Polling consistently shows 65% to 70% of voters support legalization, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents. This is a supermajority consensus that crosses party lines.

How has the Senate responded? By killing every single cannabis bill. In 2025 alone, they killed eight House-passed measures. The House has passed legalization bills multiple times with bipartisan support, sometimes by veto-proof margins. Each time, the Senate responded with a middle finger to voters.

Senator Regina Birdsell’s reasoning? “We have debated cannabis to death. The governor will veto any cannabis bill.”

Why pass legislation reflecting the will of the people when it might get vetoed? Why do your job when it’s hard?

Every state surrounding New Hampshire has legalized cannabis. If legalization created the catastrophe opponents claim, we’d have seen it. Massachusetts hasn’t descended into chaos. Vermont’s roads aren’t littered with stoned zombies. This is fear-mongering.

What actually protects children? Regulated markets with age verification and quality control. Not unregulated black markets where dealers don’t check IDs.

Gateway drug theory? Still peddling debunked Reefer Madness propaganda in 2026?

Even if you personally oppose cannabis, you don’t get to impose your preferences on 70% of constituents. That’s not how representative democracy works.

Real people face real consequences. Criminal records from cannabis possession make it harder to get jobs or find housing. The House passed HB 196 to annul past possession convictions. The Senate killed it. They’re fine with letting past “criminals” continue suffering for something that shouldn’t have been a crime.

In 2025, the Senate also killed bills expanding the medical marijuana program, increased possession limits and home cultivation for medical users. We’re talking about people with debilitating conditions who find relief when other treatments fail.

This isn’t about public safety. This is about a small group imposing their worldview on everyone else, evidence and public opinion be damned.

New Hampshire doesn’t have a ballot initiative process. In Massachusetts or Maine, voters could put this directly on the ballot. Here, a handful of Senators can indefinitely block what the vast majority wants.

There’s a proposal for a constitutional amendment letting voters decide directly, but it requires 60% support in both chambers, meaning the same Senators blocking everything else would need to allow it.

When personal ideology matters more than constituent opinion, when politicians hide behind procedural excuses, when they kill bills in committee to avoid floor votes, that’s not public service. That’s self-service.

Rep. Jared Sullivan said it perfectly: “It’s on them to explain to New Hampshire people, 70 percent of whom think it should be legal, why they don’t want to pass it.”

Except they won’t explain. Anything to avoid the truth: they’re defying the will of the people because they can.

New Hampshire’s Senate won’t listen to voters on cannabis. Not at 70% support. Not at any percentage. They’re costing the state millions while neighbors prosper. They’re ruining lives over conduct that’s legal five minutes away. They’re blocking medical marijuana for sick patients. All while wrapping themselves in “Live Free or Die.”

When elected officials consistently ignore 70% of constituents on a major issue, that’s not leadership. That’s dereliction of duty.

All 24 seats in the New Hampshire State Senate are up for election in November 2026. It’s time for new representation, people who understand that “Live Free or Die” means something, and that representative democracy means actually representing the people.

70% of New Hampshire voters have spoken. Time for the Senate to listen, or step aside for people who will.

Corey Bergeron is a classically trained chef based in Weare with his wife and daughter.