Nearly three in four New Hampshire voters support legalizing marijuana, according to a new poll. And bipartisan majorities also say they’re in favor of conducting cannabis sales through a state-run model as would be the case under a bill that recently passed the House of Representatives. The Granite State Poll, published by the University of New Hampshire (UNH) on Friday, found that 74 percent of residents in the state feel that prohibition should end. In a separate question, sixty-eight percent said they support a bill that passed the House this month to have the state Liquor Commission exclusively conduct sales—a proposal that has raised some concerns among advocates and stakeholders. Seventy-nine percent of Democrats, 68 percent of independents, and 56 percent of Republicans said they back the unique reform approach. Meanwhile, support for legalization overall has grown demonstrably in the state over the past decade, increasing by 25 percentage points since UNH started polling residents on the issue in 2013. Just 15 percent of Granite Staters now oppose legalizing cannabis. But while bipartisan majorities said they favor the state-run legalization proposal, it should be noted that respondents were not given an alternative regulatory model in the new poll. And when asked about legalization through a traditional, private retail model last year, 78 percent said they favor that approach.
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 02/28/2022 08:46:00