Live Free or Die — The Cannabis Prohibition Irony

Last verified: April 2026

The Motto

“Live Free or Die” was adopted as the official state motto in 1945. Originally a toast by John Stark, the Revolutionary War general from NH and victor at the Battle of Bennington, in an 1809 letter to fellow veterans: “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.” The motto appears on every NH license plate, the state seal, and the flag of the New Hampshire National Guard. It carries cultural weight beyond ceremony.

The motto signals a libertarian-leaning political tradition: low taxation (no general income or sales tax), lax gun laws, and an early adoption of marriage equality. On cannabis, the motto sits in genuine tension with the state’s actual legal framework — a tension reformers exploit constantly at the State House.

The Free State Project

The Free State Project (FSP) was founded in 2001 by then-Yale PhD student Jason Sorens. The premise: concentrate libertarians in a single low-population state to flip its politics. After a member vote in September 2003, New Hampshire was selected over Wyoming (57%–43%), with Alaska, Idaho, and others on the ballot. Members signed a Statement of Intent to move once the project reached 20,000 signatories — a threshold reached on February 3, 2016.

By 2024–2025, FSP organizers estimated roughly 10,000 Free Staters had relocated to New Hampshire. They are not a unified bloc — the project explicitly disclaims partisan affiliation — but in practice, FSP-aligned legislators have caucused (loosely) under the Republican and Libertarian labels. By 2025, FSP organizers claimed roughly 25% of the NH House and Senate could be classified as “liberty lovers” by Liberty Alliance ratings — a striking concentration of libertarian legislators not found in any other state.

The Free State Project, founded in 2001 by Jason Sorens and chartered to relocate to New Hampshire in 2003, reached its 20,000-signatory threshold on February 3, 2016. By 2024–2025, FSP organizers estimated roughly 10,000 Free Staters had relocated to New Hampshire, concentrated in Keene, Manchester, and the Lakes Region.

Free State Project — fsp.org

Free Staters in the Legislature

FSP-aligned legislators in cannabis debates have included:

• Sen. Tim Lang (R-Sanbornton) — FSP-aligned, relocated from elsewhere; voted for HB 1633 in 2024.
• Rep. Kevin Verville (R-Deerfield) — sponsor of HB 75 (2025), the no-commercial-market legalization vehicle.
• Rep. Tom Mannion (R-Pelham) — FSP mover from Massachusetts (2020).
• Rep. Jared Sullivan (D-Bethlehem) — often described as Free State-adjacent; lead Democratic sponsor.

Most have supported cannabis legalization on libertarian grounds. The Liberty Alliance scorecard (The Gold Standard, distributed to all 424 NH legislators before key votes) classifies cannabis legalization bills as Pro-Liberty, providing institutional cover for Republican legislators to vote yes.

The NH Liberty Alliance

Founded November 2003, the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance (NHLA) is the state’s nonpartisan libertarian coalition. Its annual Liberty Rating grades legislators A+ (97%+ alignment) through F. The 2025 Liberty Rating identified 18 legislators with A+ ratings, including House Majority Leader Jason Osborne. NHLA scores cannabis bills as Pro-Liberty, giving libertarian-leaning Republicans political cover to support legalization — though that cover hasn’t been enough to flip the Senate.

The Free Town Project — Grafton, NH

A 2004 splinter, the Free Town Project, encouraged libertarians to concentrate specifically in Grafton, NH. Population grew from 1,138 (2000) to 1,340 (2010); the town saw a 30% reduction in its already-small budget, the elimination of certain regulations, and a notable rise in human-bear conflict (chronicled in the 2020 book A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling). Grafton is a cautionary tale within FSP itself; it is not representative of the broader project, but it illustrates how concentrated libertarian governance plays out in practice.

PorcFest — The Annual Cannabis-Tolerant Gathering

The Porcupine Freedom Festival (PorcFest), held each June at a private campground in Lancaster, NH, draws 2,000+ attendees. Cannabis is openly used and bought and sold there in defiance of state law — the most visible cannabis-tolerant gathering in NH outside of the medical patient population. PorcFest organizers do not encourage law-breaking, but state and local enforcement at the festival has been minimal, reflecting the broader pattern of light cannabis enforcement in NH’s libertarian regions.

Free Keene and the Robin Hood Story

Keene, in southwestern NH, has been the locus of FSP-aligned activism. “Robin Hood of Keene” activists in the 2010s fed expired parking meters to prevent tickets, drawing national press coverage and a series of New Hampshire Supreme Court rulings on the activists’ First Amendment rights. Pro-cannabis activism has been visible at the Keene Central Square through the same period, and at the State House annually during legalization hearings.

The Cultural Irony

Carla Gericke, former FSP president, wrote in 2017 that she frequently saw social-media posts from like-minded people complaining cannabis was not yet legal in NH — and used those complaints to recruit more movers to the state. The cultural-prohibition mismatch is well-known to advocates: the state with the strongest libertarian self-identification in America still bans adult-use cannabis. The Free State Project cites cannabis prohibition as one of its motivating issues, but Senate Republicans in NH (most of whom are not Free Staters) consistently kill rec bills.

Comparison: Idaho

Idaho’s prohibition is more strict than NH’s — Idaho has neither medical cannabis nor decriminalization. But Idaho lacks NH’s libertarian self-identification and Free State Project history, making the cultural-prohibition mismatch less stark there. NH is the unique case: the most self-consciously libertarian state in America, with the strictest cannabis policy in New England. The contradiction is the entire story.

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