Therapeutic cannabis being considered for New Mexico inmate patients

Opioids are now killing more Americans than guns and car crashes so last month the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Advisory Board recommended that both opioid and general substance abuse disorders should be qualifying conditions for cannabis as therapy.

Now, after Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 406 into law interpretations of the seminal Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act might apply to patients incarcerated in the state's corrections facilities.

Jessica Gelay, New Mexico policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance, said her group would like to see inmates have access to any needed medication, including cannabis, but also said she would leave it up to state officials to interpret the law. “The Drug Policy Alliance firmly believes that people should not lose their rights when they are incarcerated and should not be prevented from using medicine that they need,” Gelay said. “Medical cannabis patients face discrimination in all walks of life, which is why protections are needed in policy in order to dismantle stigma and permit access.” [Interpretation of updated medical cannabis law could allow all inmates access]

Keeping the industry from the clutches of a monopoly has been contentious and lawmakers in New Mexico's Democrat-dominated legislature rejected a Republican plan that would have established state-run cannabis retail operations but they did decriminalize possession of up to one half ounce.

Ketamine, a Schedule III substance long considered a 'street drug' by some lawmakers and the law enforcement industry, is now being used to treat depression.

Tweaker Ed Laird's addiction to meth drove him to burglarize a still unknown number of properties to feed his madness so perhaps his rehabilitation will include therapeutic cannabis while he serves his sentence.

New Mexico's therapeutic cannabis program is nearing 71,000 patients.