Marijuana Moment: New Hampshire Lawmakers Take Up Bipartisan Bills To Legalize Psilocybin For Medical Use

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New Hampshire lawmakers on Wednesday took up a pair of bipartisan bills to legalize the regulated use of psilocybin for medical purposes.

At a hearing before the House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee, members heard public testimony on the proposals: HB 1809 from Rep. Buzz Scherr (D) and HB 1796 from Rep. Michael Moffett (R).

Both measures seek to create a regulatory pathway for patients with certain conditions to access the psychedelic for therapeutic use through a program overseen by the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). But Moffett’s legislation is more prescriptive about the proposed regulatory framework.

“I am an unlikely prime sponsor for a measure such as this,” Moffett told fellow lawmakers at the hearing, saying he’s “always been very wary and skeptical of” psychedelics and has “always been a hard no on marijuana for many reasons, to include the fact that I was constantly drug tested myself for many years in the Marine Corps, where I developed a zero tolerance for illegal drug use.”

He said that he changed his mid after seeing a presentation on psychedelic therapies at a national veterans conference last summer, where he learned that “a psilocybin treatment option could have value to almost anyone, beyond military people or former military people.”

Scherr, for his part, said there’s a “substantial amount of research going on currently about the therapeutic uses of psilocybin.”

“The research in terms of it helping with those who have treatment-resistant depression is pretty significant at this point,” he said. “Research in terms of broader use for those suffering from other forms of PTSD is developing. Research for use with people who have certain forms of substance abuse is also developing.”

Jenny O’Higgins of the state Department of Health and Human Services said officials have some concerns around the lack of appropriated funds in Moffett’s legislation, saying the department would “not be able to absorb” the program under its current budget.

A representative of the prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana’s New Hampshire affiliate testified against the proposals, saying that psilocybin is a federally illegal Schedule I drug. She also argued that there is insufficient evidence to support the psychedelic’s therapeutic potential.

Here are the key provisions of HB 1809:

• DHHS would be responsible for approving licensed medical professional to serve as providers of psilocybin for qualifying patients.
• In order to qualify for the program, patients would need to be diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use disorder or another condition authorized by an advisory board and DHHS.
• The legislation specifically stipulates that only natural psilocybin could be administered, excluding synthetic versions of the psychedelic.
• Providers would also need to be approved by the department to grow and harvest their own psilocybin products.
• The process for treating qualifying patients with the psychedelic would need to involve a preparation session, administration session and integration session.
• A Medical Psilocybin Advisory Board would be established, comprised of a representative of DHHS, a qualifying patient, a veterans advocate and eight medical professionals.
  • Those medical experts would need to include a psychedelics researcher, two regulators overseeing existing medical psilocybin programs and specialists in the treatment of addiction, palliative care, veterans’ affairs, naturopathy, nursing and mental health counseling.
• The board would be tasked with analyzing data on patient outcomes from DHHS, consider adding qualifying conditions for participation in the program and determine whether the law should be expanded.
• The program would only be implemented if the advisory board, within two years of the bill’s enactment, notifies lawmakers, regulators and the governor that it can be effectively administered.

“The medical community has always recognized that patients exist with serious conditions that are very resistant to effective treatment,” a statement of purpose for the measure says. “Recently, research has begun to show that certain of those patients have had positive results with the closely supervised use of psilocybin for treatment.”

“Patients with significant post-traumatic stress disorder, with treatment-resistant clinical depression, and with serious substance use disorder have been shown to benefit from the controlled, therapeutic use of psilocybin in a supervised setting,” it says. “The purpose of this act is to create a carefully monitored and closely supervised setting in which an approved medical provider can treat a carefully chosen patient with appropriate doses of psilocybin which that same provider has produced for a medical intervention.”

Here are the main details of HB 1796:

• The bill would permit the regulated use of psilocybin in a medically supervised setting, with DHHS responsible for overseeing the program.
• To qualify for psilocybin treatment, a patient 21 or older would need to be diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, substance misuse disorder, a terminal illness requiring end-of-life care or any other condition authorized by DHHS.
• A Psilocybin Licensing Board under the department would be tasked with issuing licenses for independent medical psilocybin providers, therapy providers, cultivators and testing laboratories.
• There would be specific guidelines for facilities where the psychedelic could be administered, including security requirements and other safety protocols such as ensuring there are rescue medications on site if a patient experiences an adverse event.
• The legislation would also establish a Therapeutic Psilocybin Treatment Fund, which would be funded by revenue from licensing taxes and fees. The fund would go toward studies into the possibility of expanding the program to include additional psychedelics in the program.
• The law if enacted would take effect beginning in January 1, 2027.

“The purpose of the Therapeutic Psilocybin Act is to allow the beneficial use of psilocybin in a regulated system for alleviating qualified medical conditions,” the bill’s statement of purpose says.

The prospects of either bill advancing this session remain unclear, but lawmakers have been increasingly active in pursuing psychedelics reform in recent years.

Last June, the New Hampshire Senate voted to scrap compromise legislation that would have lowered the state’s criminal penalty for first-time psilocybin possession while also creating mandatory minimum sentences around fentanyl.

As originally introduced, the legislation would have completely removed penalties around obtaining, purchasing, transporting, possessing or using psilocybin, effectively legalizing it on a noncommercial basis. However a House committee amended the bill before unanimously advancing it last March.

Meanwhile in New Hampshire, the House last week approved a bill to legalize marijuana in the state—though its chances of passage in the Senate remain dubious, and the governor has expressed clear opposition to the reform.

Also last week, the chamber passed a proposal to allow medical cannabis dispensaries to become for-profit businesses.

The legalization bill, sponsored by Rep. Jared Sullivan (D), is one of several cannabis proposals filed for the 2026 session, including legislation from Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D) that seeks to put a constitutional amendment on the state ballot that would let voters decide if they want to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older, allowing them to “possess a modest amount of cannabis for their personal use.”

Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) has already threatened to veto any legalization bill that reaches her desk, though the constitutional amendment proposal would not require gubernatorial action.

The governor said in August that her position on the reform would not change even if the federal government moved forward with rescheduling the plant. Since then, President Donald Trump has directed the attorney general to finalize the process of moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

At a committee meeting last year, Sullivan ultimately made a persuasive argument for advancing his legalization bill, pointing out that the House has repeatedly passed similar legislation and that the chamber should stand its ground, forcing the Senate and governor to again go on record with their opposition to a policy popular among voters.

“We know where it’s going to go. Let’s send a virtue signal,” Sullivan said. “Let them be the ones that are pissing off voters who care about this.”

Meanwhile, the House also approved a bill last week from Rep. Wendy Thomas (D) that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries (known as “alternative treatment centers,” or ATCs, in the state) to convert their dispensary licenses to become for-profit entities. HB 54, which passed on the consent calendar with other legislation, previously advanced unanimously out of the House Finance Committee.

Part of the motivation behind the legislation is the fact that medical marijuana dispensaries don’t qualify for federal non-profit status. But in the state, they’re considered non-profit organizations, which has resulted in disproportionately increased operating costs.

Other bills filed for 2026 include two proposals to protect the gun rights of medical cannabis patients.

There are also a few pieces of legislation aimed at regulating hemp sales—an issue that’s receiving heightened attention given that Congress passed, and Trump signed, an appropriations bill that would effectively re-criminalize most consumable hemp products.

Meanwhile, after the House added provisions to a Senate-passed bill last year that would allow medical marijuana patients to grow cannabis at home, those measures were stripped in conference.

Image courtesy of CostaPPR.

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