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.