Is weed legal in New Hampshire?

Recreational status

Recreational cannabis is not legal in New Hampshire. (RSA 318-B:2-c: Personal Possession of Marijuana)

RSA 318-B:2-c decriminalizes possession of small amounts to a civil violation rather than authorizing retail sale; it creates no adult-use dispensary or purchase channel.

Decriminalizing a small amount left the supply side untouched, so no shop in New Hampshire may sell to an adult who holds no card. Paying a civil fine settles a possession charge and opens no way to buy.

Medical status

A full medical cannabis program runs in New Hampshire, serving patients the program registers. (RSA 126-X:1: Definitions)

RSA 126-X:1(IX) lists a broad set of qualifying medical conditions -- including moderate to severe chronic pain, PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and opioid use disorder -- plus a catch-all for any debilitating or terminal condition a provider certifies for a patient 21 or older, with no product-form or THC-content limit.

The Department of Health and Human Services runs the registry, and a provider has to certify you before the state issues a card. Your registration can also cover a designated caregiver, who is the person allowed to collect on your behalf.

Hemp-derived products

New Hampshire permits the sale of hemp-derived products and limits which ones. (RSA 439-A:4: Hemp-Derived Products Containing THC Prohibited)

Sale is authorized under this chapter only for hemp-derived products at or below 0.3 percent THC on a dry weight basis; the cap applies regardless of formulation, naming delta-8 THC, delta-9 THC, and other THC isomer variants specifically.

The ceiling is written by potency rather than by which molecule a label names, so renaming an isomer moves nothing outside it. A shop selling hemp goods here works to that single cap, whatever the packaging calls the cannabinoid.

Home cultivation

New Hampshire allows nobody to grow cannabis at home. (RSA 126-X:8: Alternative Treatment Centers; Requirements)

RSA 126-X:8(XV)(c) confines all cultivation to an enclosed, locked facility registered with the department and accessible only to alternative treatment center agents. RSA 126-X:1(XIII) separately excludes cultivation by a designated caregiver or qualifying patient from the definition of protected 'therapeutic use.'

A card covers what you buy and stops short of what you grow, so a patient with a plant has no protection here. New Hampshire keeps cultivation inside locked, registered facilities that only licensed staff may enter.

Possession and purchase limits

The possession limit, as New Hampshire states it: 3/4 of an ounce or less of marijuana. (RSA 318-B:2-c: Personal Possession of Marijuana)

The same section treats 5 grams or less of hashish, and a personal-use amount (up to 300 milligrams of THC) of a regulated marijuana-infused product obtained from a legal-sale state, the same way. A registered qualifying patient or designated caregiver may instead possess up to two ounces of usable cannabis, plus any amount of unusable cannabis, under RSA 126-X:2.

On buying, New Hampshire states: A qualifying patient shall not obtain more than 2 ounces of usable cannabis directly or through the qualifying patient's designated caregiver during a 10-day period. (RSA 126-X:8: Alternative Treatment Centers; Requirements)

RSA 318-B:2-c, the register's first-listed source for this question, states no purchase limit; it addresses possession only, and New Hampshire has no adult-use retail channel. The department may by rule adjust this 10-day limit.

The buying figure runs on a rolling ten-day window rather than per visit, so a patient who collects early counts the days before collecting again. Below it sits the possession figure, which marks the civil-violation line for someone with no card rather than an allowance to buy.

Minimum age

There is no recreational channel in New Hampshire, so no recreational age applies. (RSA 318-B:2-c: Personal Possession of Marijuana)

Null because RSA 318-B:2-c creates no channel to buy cannabis without a medical card; it only sets penalty levels for possession. The section separately treats a person 21 or older who possesses a personal-use amount of a regulated marijuana-infused product as subject to a violation, and a person 18 to 20 who does the same as guilty of a misdemeanor.

You must be 18 or over to hold a card and buy for yourself. (RSA 126-X:4: Departmental Administration; Registry Identification Cards)

RSA 126-X:4(V) does not issue a registry identification card to an applicant under 18 unless a custodial parent or legal guardian submits written certification from two providers, one a pediatric care provider, and consents in writing to allow the applicant's therapeutic use and to serve as the applicant's designated caregiver controlling acquisition and frequency of use.

Eighteen is the age at which you can apply on your own account, and reaching it does nothing by itself without a provider's certification behind it. A younger applicant faces a higher bar, because two providers have to certify and a parent has to consent in writing and act as the caregiver.

Where you can buy

You can buy lawfully from a licensed medical dispensary. (RSA 126-X:8: Alternative Treatment Centers; Requirements)

RSA 126-X:8(XV)(b) confines an alternative treatment center's dispensing to a qualifying patient, that patient's designated caregiver, another alternative treatment center, or a visiting qualifying patient. RSA 126-X:7 separately calls this a 'dispensary location' and requires an applicant's plan for serving patients who cannot afford to purchase cannabis. Neither source registered for this question describes a distinct home-delivery service or an adult-use or hemp-retail channel.

A licensed dispensary may serve you, your designated caregiver, or a qualifying patient visiting from out of state, and no one else. Hemp shops sell under a separate law and sit outside the program.

The New Hampshire store list names every licensed location this site holds a record for.

Federal law applies here too, and it is not the same. Read what federal law says about weed.