NM Legislature, pueblos preparing to tackle legal cannabis

New Mexico's unpaid citizen legislature will begin debating legal cannabis for all adults Tuesday following Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's State of the State Address. Home growing rules have yet to be agreed upon but her proposal that would keep taxes at roughly 17 to 19 percent would also make therapeutic cannabis tax-free while subsidizing it for low income patients.

“The Legislature has the opportunity to pass the largest job-creation program in New Mexico in a decade,” Gov. Lujan Grisham said. “Skeptics have been right to preach study and patience. I agree with their caution – and that’s why we haven’t rushed into this issue. But if we are clear-eyed about the risks, we have to be clear-eyed about the opportunity.” The governor’s proposal, the Cannabis Regulation Act, House Bill 160, is based on a report by the Cannabis Legalization Working Group, a bipartisan task force she appointed to study the issue all throughout last year. Under the proposal, local jurisdictions are empowered to adopt reasonable time, place and manner operational rules. The initiative includes conviction and arrest-record expungement provisions and provides for a mechanism for possible recall and dismissal of cases of individuals incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses. And, among other highlights, the proposal provides a mechanism for entering into intergovernmental agreements with any sovereign tribe or pueblo that elects to implement the Cannabis Regulation Act. [New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham unveils recreational cannabis legalization proposal]

It's the view of this interested party that growers should be able to market their product like vineyards have tasting rooms and breweries have tap rooms but allowing state-owned stores will only give the government control over the various strains. The State of New Mexico should offer incentives to tribes, pueblos and others for organic cannabis grown with off-grid sources of electricity and rainwater harvest. Also, all grows and product offered for public sale, including cannabidiol or CBD, should be inspected by the state.