There are tons of people who smoke weed in New Hampshire. In fact, it looks like the majority at 75% smoke weed in the granite state. At this point, it’s just a ridiculous thing everyone kind of follows along with – barely as a joke. Unfortunately, the state still wishes to punish individuals for cannabis possession. This has caused this weird “should I or shouldn’t I” approach to smoking weed here.
I remember circa 2016 -2017 when the state of Maine passed it’s legalization laws. This would be the most lenient cannabis laws in the country at the time. I lived across the river from Maine and could, quite literally, throw a stone from my home and it would land in Maine. It sucked.
The thing is, before Maine fully legalized cannabis, they had passed cannabis decriminalization. This would allow citizens to carry up to an ounce of weed and only face a $100 dollar penalty if they got caught. Even at that time, nobody cared. People in downtown Portland would openly smoke weed out of whatever they wanted. Hand-pipes, joints and vape pens were big hits and could be noticed anywhere.
Again, this was before the state fully legalized weed. Maine didn’t care. On top of that, the other states such as Vermont, and Massachusetts also passed decriminalization up to a full ounce.
Across most of New England, nobody cared about weed. For them it was only a matter of time before it became legal. They knew it was going to happen and it didn’t matter to them anymore.
Unfortunately NH Government Doesn’t Like Weed
Well, the government doesn’t, at least. Most New Hampshire citizens want weed legalized.
While everyone in the surrounding states (now including Rhode Island), New Hampshire feels the need to be different. That difference costs the wellbeing of citizens across the state.
Now, for many citizens, they live in rural areas. Nobody is coming to bust down your door for smoking pot. You’re safe. It’s when you get into cities like Manchester, Nashua and Concord that you start to feel the spread cheeked approach to cannabis.
Cops make a lot of money in New Hampshire. This is due to the opioid affliction hitting the state. NH state police get large sums of money in places like Goffstown and Londonderry. While these areas are relatively quiet, the police need to have a reason for those new cruisers and expanded force. Thus, busting citizens for cannabis is a quick and easy way to continue the river of money flowing into their pockets…even if they never actually fix the opioid crisis.
While the number has gone down since decrminalization was passed, theres still, like, over 1000 people getting arrested every year.
So How Can You Smoke Weed In New Hampshire?
Thank god for technology. As many are utilizing the benefits of vaporizer technology, the smell, and overall signs that someone is using cannabis is less than noticeable. Unless the person is behind the wheel and driving erratically, there isn’t much to show.
There used to be a time when you had to purchase a fake soda can, and have odor spray/incense/candles everywhere you went. Just to cover it up. Today’s cannabis industry is much less stinky and more technological. Of course, people still purchase cannabis in the bud form – but thats the next issue.
Cannabis possession is only allowed for up to 3/4 an ounce. Read that again. Most people who purchase cannabis buy in ounces. Thus, anyone buying what was regarded by the surrounding states as a legal amount (for common-sense reasons) is now considered over the limit for possession and can be arrested. Who purchases weed in 3/4 ounces?
When decriminalization was passed, this was the best way for Sununu and our police chief to have their eyes and hands in the citizens pockets.
Common sense should have been a full ounce but whatever at this point.
In order to not go to jail, you need to tell you “black market” dealer that he needs to sell you 3/4 an ounce of weed. Thats laughable still.
The “Black Market” Is From Legal States
When people think of the “black market” in New Hampshire, they used to think of some guy in his garage poorly extracting THC wax with butane and not filtering the remaining solvent out. Or some sketchy guy on elm street trying to push bad products.
Fortunately, since fully legal markets surround New Hampshire, we don’t need to do this anymore. It’s cool if you know what you are doing and you want to extract cannabis by yourself for personal use, but who needs to do this when you can just drive 30 minutes south (or less) and pick up a cartridge that has a full list of lab results?
The black market is no more (unless you’re hanging with people who like fentanyl). Instead of having people growing in their basement and hiding from the police, just drive in any direction for longer than 45 minutes and chances are, you’ll end up in a place where you can legally buy cannabis, and then just take it back home with you.
So in the end, yes you can smoke weed in New Hampshire, just try not to be obvious about it. You may not need to fear anywhere else, but in New Hampshire you still need to be a little discrete.