New Hampshire
Lawmaker pushes to strengthen legal definition of child abuse; other bills target false accusations • New Hampshire Bulletin
Rep. Alicia Gregg, a Nashua Democrat, serves on the House Child and Family Law Committee, but outside of her work at the State House, she serves as a domestic abuse victims’ advocate and is a survivor herself. And she’s gravitated toward legislative issues surrounding protecting others from abuse.
“The one gaping hole that I continued to find on all the special committees I was on and the study committee was that we don’t have an updated definition of what child abuse and endangerment looks like in this state,” Gregg said.
She filed House Bill 553 to address that.
The bill, which is co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, would amend the legal definition of abuse and neglect, and create instructions for officials on dealing with such abuse.
For example, the bill adds, “Evidence of serious injury, broken bones, or unexplained injury to any non-ambulatory child, or frequent illnesses that are not being adequately addressed or controlled,” to the list of factors to be considered evidence of child abuse. The goal is to strengthen the existing language and make it more explicit.
Additionally, instructions to “determine if the preservation of family unity is in the best interest of the child” would become “presume that family unity is in the best interest of the child; but, if it is determined to not be in the child’s best interest, to secure placement in the least restrictive setting.” The bill also calls for “frequent” reviews of any child removed from the home with the goal of returning that child home as quickly as possible.
The bill also creates a legal definition for “trauma informed,” describing it as “a service system in which all parties involved recognize and respond to the impact of traumatic stress on those who have contact with the system …” Several other verbiage changes the bill calls for are aimed at making the language more “trauma informed.”
“I think too much of it (the language) was left to interpretation before with the courts,” she said. “And when you are dealing with families I think a lot of times there is a hesitancy to step in.”
Gregg said the goal of the changes isn’t necessarily to improve the prosecution of crimes against children, but rather to empower officials to intervene before that becomes necessary.
“That way DCYF (the Division for Children, Youth and Families) and the courts have extra tools in their belt to say, ‘This is when we need an intervention,’” she said. “And we can have the intervention before we have a crisis.”
Gregg added that the language changes were developed through a study committee this past summer that included Sen. Sharon Carson, a Londonderry Republican, and former Sen. Rebecca Whitley, a Hopkinton Democrat. That committee, she said, consulted New Hampshire child advocacy centers, Court Appointed Special Advocates – commonly known as CASA – and physicians who care for children, among others.
HB 553 isn’t the only proposed legislation tackling child abuse-related issues this session.
House Bill 493, also sponsored by Gregg, seeks to require physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants who treat patients 18 or younger to complete child abuse and neglect education. That education, which would be at least two hours, must be accredited and recognized by the New Hampshire chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Meanwhile, a pair of Republican-backed bills seeks to push back against certain aspects of the state’s existing child abuse prosecution system.
House Bill 243, sponsored by Deerfield Republican Rep. James Spillane, targets people who file false reports of child abuse and neglect. The bill forbids people from making false reports “maliciously or with the intent to harm” and allows them to face criminal charges or civil suits for doing so. It also allows the name, address, or phone number of the person filing the report to be listed.
Spillane also sponsored a bill regarding false reports of abuse and neglect. House Bill 430 seeks to shorten the amount of time the Department of Health and Human Services holds onto records on “unfounded” reports of abuse or neglect. Presently, the department keeps records of unfounded abuse or neglect for 10 years from the date it was deemed unfounded, unless there is “reasonable concern” at which point it’s kept indefinitely. This legislation would change that 10-year period to three years. Once that time period elapses, the department destroys all electronic or paper records in the case.
Both Spillane’s bills are co-sponsored by fellow Republicans.
The House Child and Family Law Committee will take up HB 553 on Jan. 28 at 1:30 p.m., and HB 243 is scheduled for a hearing before the same committee on Jan. 21 at 3 p.m.
Protests and rallies:
📅 Wednesday (May 6)
New Hampshire Peace Action: Vigil for Permanent Ceasefire Now! (Dover, 2 p.m.)
New Hampshire Peace Action: Ceasefire Now! (Hanover, 4-5 p.m.)
603Forward: North Country Power Hour (Gorham, 6 p.m.)
📅 Thursday (May 7)
New Hampshire Peace Action: Ceasefire Vigil (Concord, 12-1:30 p.m.)
American Friends Service Committee: Meeting for Worship with Attention to Peace (Virtually, 7:30 p.m.)
Brookline Democrats: Gerrymandering in NH (Brookline Historical Society, 6:30 p.m.)
📅 Friday (May 8)
American Friends Service Committee: Action Hour for Palestine (Virtual, 12 p.m.)
Indivisible: Nashua Bridge Brigade (Nashua, 2-4 p.m.)
New Hampshire Public Radio: By Degrees Climate Summit Community Resilience (Manchester, 12 p.m.)
Rochester Dems: Dance for Democracy (Rochester Performing & Arts Center, 6 p.m.)
📅 Saturday (May 9)
NH Peace Action: Standing against authoritarian actions (Kingston, 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.)
New Hampshire Democratic Party: Pro-Democracy Weekly Visibility (Derry, 12 p.m)
📅 Sunday (May 10)
Occupy Seacoast: Civil Rights Sunday (Portsmouth, 12-4 p.m.)
First Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter: Bridge Brigade (Exeter, 5-5:30 p.m.)
Have an event to add? Email Lily Jackson, lily@couriernewsroom.com with details (please send details at least one week before the event).
Make Mother’s Day memorable with these 6 activities in New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at Monday, May 4, 2026 results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from May 4 drawing
30-36-42-60-63, Powerball: 13, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from May 4 drawing
Day: 6-2-1
Evening: 3-3-9
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from May 4 drawing
Day: 7-9-1-8
Evening: 9-8-0-8
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Megabucks Plus numbers from May 4 drawing
01-05-33-34-41, Megaball: 05
Check Megabucks Plus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Gimme 5 numbers from May 4 drawing
23-27-29-37-38
Check Gimme 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from May 4 drawing
08-17-22-34-39, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the New Hampshire Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 10:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Pick 3, 4: 1:10 p.m. and 6:55 p.m. daily.
- Mega Millions: 11:00 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Megabucks Plus: 7:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Lucky for Life: 10:38 p.m. daily.
- Gimme 5: 6:55 p.m. Monday through Friday.
- Millionaire for Life: 11:15 p.m. daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a New Hampshire managing editor. You can send feedback using this form.
New Hampshire
NH medical marijuana program added 2,100 new patients last year – Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
More than 2,100 new patients signed up with New Hampshire’s Therapeutic Cannabis Program last year, bringing the total registry to nearly 17,000, according to new state data.
That increase — about 14.5% from the year prior — is the largest since 2021.
Likely driving the growth were changes to state law in 2024 that allowed more people to qualify for medical marijuana use. They can now join the program at doctors’ discretion — which covers any debilitating or terminal condition or symptom, as long as their medical provider agrees the benefits of cannabis could outweigh the risks — or with a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder.
More than 900 patients list anxiety as their qualifying condition, according to the report issued this week by the state Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program.
“There was certainly an uptick in growth after those bills took effect in late 2024. It hasn’t skyrocketed, but has somewhat accelerated the growth of the program,” said Matt Simon, a lobbyist for GraniteLeaf Cannabis, one of three licensed cannabis providers in the state. “Where we’ve been, this extremely tiny program that was tiny for years, it is steadily growing.”
With 16,846 people, about 1.2% of the population are either certified patients or designated caregivers, who are authorized to buy cannabis on behalf of a patient. That’s close to one in every 84 Granite Staters.
The data released by the state was collected in June 2025. Simon estimates roughly 1,000 more people have joined since then.
The Therapeutic Cannabis Program, established in 2013, is the only way to lawfully consume marijuana in New Hampshire, as recreational use remains illegal. Patients require a doctor’s approval to join and receive a state-issued card that licenses them to buy medical cannabis products from seven dispensaries across the state, operated by three producers: GraniteLeaf Cannabis, Sanctuary Medicinals and Temescal Wellness.
The new data comes as the Trump administration reclassified medical marijuana last month as a less dangerous drug, effectively legitimizing programs run in 40 states, including New Hampshire’s. The change opens the door for more cannabis research and potential tax breaks for producers.
In New Hampshire, program demographics skew older. Nearly a quarter of patients are between 55 and 65 years old, and almost 70% of patients are over the age of 45. Pain is far and away the most common condition that people aim to treat with cannabis.
Patients are concentrated in southern New Hampshire and in towns where dispensaries, also called alternative treatment centers, are located. There are seven across the state in Chichester, Conway, Dover, Keene, Lebanon, Merrimack and Plymouth.
Concord has between 300 and 734 patients, according to the state data. Manchester has the most patients out of any municipality, at 1,150.
Despite the program’s growth, cost and accessibility remain a challenge. Jerry Knirk, a retired surgeon and state representative who now chairs the state’s Therapeutic Cannabis Medical Oversight Board, said New Hampshire’s strict regulatory environment plays a role.
“Part of the issue is we have a very high-quality, highly regulated program with testing of all products and lots of restrictions and things, and that does make things more expensive, but it’s how you keep the quality to be really high,” Knirk said. “We want to have really good quality. Unfortunately, it does make it a little bit harder.
One family of three spent $548 after discounts on a six-week supply of their medicine, which they use for chronic pain and other ailments, the Monitor reported last year.
Limited retail locations also mean that in some parts of the North Country, patients must drive upwards of an hour to obtain their medicine.
“The lack of dispensary locations, well, yeah, that is a problem,” Knirk said.
The oversight board, joined by other advocates, has pushed for laws to alleviate those concerns. Some of the biggest include allowing patients to grow their own medicine at home and letting dispensaries use outdoor greenhouses to cut down on electricity costs.
That legislation is introduced in the State House almost every year but is often torpedoed by Republicans’ concerns over security protocols.
While advocates expected little movement on marijuana policy under Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who opposes legalizing recreational use, the bill to allow greenhouse cultivation is nearing the finish line this session. Former governor Chris Sununu vetoed a similar bill two years ago; Ayotte hasn’t indicated whether she’d sign it.
Simon said that while cost and accessibility are still challenges, patient satisfaction with the program is improving.
“We started in a tough place with a lot of people really not liking the law and the program,” he said. “I think it’s been steady growth and steady improvement. Prices have come down somewhat, and the vibes are better.”
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