Marijuana

Marijuana is the most widely abused illicit drug in New Hampshire. The percentage of New Hampshire residents aged 12 or older who reported having abused marijuana in the past month (6.0%) was higher than the percentage nationwide (4.8%), according to the 1999 and 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Marijuana-related treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in New Hampshire remained relatively high but stable from 1997 to 2001. In each of those years there were more treatment admissions for the abuse of marijuana than for any other illicit drug. (See Table 1 in Heroin section.)

Marijuana is the most readily available illicit drug in New Hampshire. Twenty of the 22 law enforcement respondents to the NDTS 2002 in New Hampshire reported that the availability of marijuana is high or medium in their jurisdictions. Despite this, FDSS data indicate that federal law enforcement officers in New Hampshire did not report any marijuana seizures to FDSS in 2002. However, in that year the New Hampshire Drug Task Force seized 244 kilograms of marijuana. USSC data indicate that in FY2001, 17.5 percent of the drug-related federal sentences in New Hampshire were marijuana-related, compared with 32.8 percent nationwide. (See Table 2 in Heroin section.)

Most of the marijuana available in New Hampshire is produced in Mexico; however, high quality BC Bud from Canada and locally produced marijuana also are available. The DEA Manchester Resident Office reported that commercial-grade marijuana, mostly from Mexico, sold for $900 to $2,200 per pound and $5 per joint in the first quarter of FY2003. High quality, Canada-produced marijuana sold for $3,000 to $4,000 per pound and $10 per joint during that same period.

Cannabis is cultivated both outdoors and indoors in New Hampshire. Caucasian local independent dealers and abusers are the primary cannabis cultivators in the state. According to DEA Domestic Eradication/Suppression Program data, law enforcement officials eradicated 555 cannabis plants from outdoor grow sites in 2000 and 686 in 2001. Law enforcement officials eradicated 214 cannabis plants from indoor grow sites in both 2000 and 2001.

Caucasian local independent dealers and criminal groups dominate the transportation of marijuana into New Hampshire. These dealers and criminal groups typically travel to Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts, in private vehicles to purchase marijuana from individuals and criminal groups of various ethnic backgrounds for retail-level distribution in New Hampshire. However, package delivery services and couriers aboard commercial aircraft also are used to transport marijuana into the state, often directly from southwestern states. High quality, Canada-produced marijuana is smuggled across the U.S.-Canada border via private vehicles, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, and by couriers on foot. These smugglers typically rendezvous in New Hampshire with members of their criminal group, who transport the drug to its final destination via private vehicle.

Wholesale-level marijuana distribution in New Hampshire is limited. Caucasian local independent dealers and criminal groups are the primary retail-level marijuana distributors in the state. Marijuana usually is sold as joints and distributed at various locations throughout the state such as bars, nightclubs, apartments, and parking lots. 

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