Last week, the New Hampshire State Senate rejected two marijuana legalization bills, ending the possibility – for now – that the Granite State would follow its neighbors in legalizing use of the drug.

One bill would have created a state-run monopoly for retail sales and another would have allowed for small-scale personal use and home cultivation.

The bills previously passed in the New Hampshire House.

Marijuana has been legalized in Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts.

Opponents of the legislation have voiced concerns that – if legalized – use of the drug would skyrocket in teens, potentially contributing to traffic fatalities and other accidents.

Sen. Becky Whitley, D-Hopkinton, argued that the bill was necessary to put the state more in line with its neighbors and with a more modern understanding of cannabis. She cast it as a racial justice issue, noting that Black people are disproportionately prosecuted for marijuana offenses.

“The so-called war on marijuana has not worked,” she said. “It does not make us safer, it wastes taxpayer dollars and it has needlessly ruined lives.”

Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, said passing the bills would’ve put constituents in the middle of a conflict between state and federal law.

“In that fight, we know who is going to win, and it’s not going to be us. And people are the ones who are going to be hurt,” she said. “Maybe they’re all going to smoke so much pot they won’t care – they’ll be oblivious – but we care, and we should care about putting our constituents in difficult situations.”

New Hampshire legalized medical marijuana in 2013. The House has approved recreational marijuana bills several times since then, but the Senate traditionally has opposed them, as has Gov. Chris Sununu.

We agree that recreational use – for now – should be shelved. It’s a slippery slope that New Hampshire doesn’t need to fall for.