Letter: Gubernatorial candidates and cannabis

As the Concord Monitor recently reported, there are stark differences between the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor on legalization of cannabis in New Hampshire.

Kelly Ayotte and Chuck Morse both oppose legalizing adult-use cannabis in any fashion. It seems that they are fine with the status quo, where we a losing hundreds of millions of dollars of economic activity, including tourism and tax revenue, to our neighboring states, while Granite Staters continue to get busted.

Joyce Craig, Cinde Warmington and Jon Kiper all support legalization, but with significant policy differences. I serve on the Board for the New Hampshire Cannabis Association. Several weeks ago, we had the privilege of having hour-long conversations each with Craig, Warmington and Kiper on cannabis legalization and regulation. (Ayotte and Morse did not respond to repeated requests to participate.)

Of the three Democrats, I am most impressed with the position of Joyce Craig. She believes it is past time for cannabis legalization in New Hampshire. She favors a model that encourages small businesses and entrepreneurship, allows limited homegrow for medical cannabis patients, and protects New Hampshire’s existing medicinal cannabis program. As governor, Craig will work with legislators to implement a system that benefits Granite State farmers, prevents underage access, mandates safety testing, works for New Hampshire, and helps bring in revenue and economic activity that we are losing to surrounding states that have all legalized adult-use cannabis.

James Riddle

Hillsborough