News » New Mexico Plans Changes to MMJ Laws





New Mexico’s medical marijuana regulatory program is running in the red. The program currently has no funding that comes directly from the MMJ industry (producers, patients, etc.) and is funded instead from the State’s Department of Health’s general budget. Current operations are expected to cost between $700,000 and $800,000 for 2010.

In a public meeting on September 30, the DOH offered some solutions to this and accepted public comment on them. New Mexico is the only state with a medical marijuana law under which all responsibility is given to the Department of Health rather than a mish mash of public entities.

The solutions offered included:

An increase in certification costs from $100 to $1,000 for cannabis producers.

Requiring medical cannabis producers to pay 7% of their annual fee to the state.

Specific auditing and testing to be done by the DOH.

The 200 or so attendees at the meeting raised concerns over these measures, especially with these costs being passed on to patients and with the increased amount of red tape that would likely result from these changes.

In light of the concerns and issues raised, the public commentary period was granted an extension by the board, which will accept input until October 10.

New Mexico residents with concerns can write to or visit the Medical Cannabis Program, Runnels Building Room S-1310, 1190 St. Francis Drive, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505.

[source Medical Marijuana Blog]

Tags: medical, New Mexico