Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
New Mexico lawmakers have approved recreational pot, but no one should fire up a doobie just yet.
The Legislature last week during a special session at the Roundhouse voted to legalize recreational marijuana, becoming the 18th state to do so.
Even with a prompt and likely signature by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, legal recreational marijuana sales in New Mexico likely won’t be happen until early next year.
The basics from the special session:
• The law would allow those 21 and older to possess up to two ounces of cannabis, 16 grams of cannabis extract or 800 milligrams of edibles.
• Individuals can grow up to six mature marijuana plants and households 12 for personal use.
• Licensed cannabis sales would begin no later than April 2022, and the state’s Regulation and Licensing Department will begin issuing such licenses by January.
• Cannabis dispensaries could offer on-site consumption under certain circumstances.
• Dispensaries could be fined up to $10,000 and have their licenses suspended or revoked if they sell cannabis to anyone younger than 21.
• The number of plants each major supplier could have is limited through 2025 so big companies don’t flood the market.
• Municipalities cannot prohibit commercial marijuana sales but can regulate operating hours and zoning of such businesses, especially near schools and day-care centers.
• Current lawmakers are barred from acquiring cannabis production licenses until mid-2026.
• The state would impose a 12% excise tax on cannabis sales, which would rise to 18% in the coming years. With gross receipts taxes, the overall tax rate would be between 20% and 26%.
• Another bill passed by the Legislature expunges criminal records and convictions related to marijuana offenses.
New Mexico legalized medical cannabis in 2007.
House Bill 2 to legalize cannabis was approved by the House 38-22 and the Senate 22-15, largely along Democratic lines.
The party-line vote was reflected by local lawmakers. State Rep. Jack Chatfield and Sen. Pat Woods, both Republicans, voted against legalization, though Woods acknowledged in an interview weeks ago with the Quay County Sun that legalization was nearly inevitable. Sen. Pete Campos, a Democrat, voted for it.
Lujan Grisham, who called for the special session, praised the measure and signaled she would sign the bill into law.
“Workers will benefit from the opportunity to build careers in this new economy,” she stated in a news release. “Entrepreneurs will benefit from the opportunity to create lucrative new enterprises. The state and local governments will benefit from the additional revenue. Consumers will benefit from the standardization and regulation that comes with a bona fide industry. And those who have been harmed by this country’s failed war on drugs, disproportionately communities of color, will benefit from our state’s smart, fair and equitable new approach to past low-level convictions.”
Republicans who opposed the bill said recreational marijuana would worsen the state’s problems with drug abuse and impaired driving, harm young people’s brain development and create conflicts with federal law that prohibits it. GOP lawmakers at the special session also complained their opinions about the bill weren’t heard by Democrats.
“This marijuana session was a travesty,” New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce stated. “As expected, progressive Democrats catered to the governor’s wishes to make sure this legislation was passed. There was no need for lawmakers to return to the Roundhouse for this bill.
“With New Mexico’s collapsed economy, high unemployment, and weak education system, it’s sad that marijuana takes priority in a special session. Legalizing pot is not an important issue with the state facing so many serious problems. In addition, recreational marijuana would lead to even more crime, underage use, and impaired driving. The governor has a pipe dream of saving the state’s finances by raking in millions from marijuana revenues, but it’s unclear just how much money will end up in state coffers.”
Former Republican governor Gary Johnson, however, hailed the bill. Johnson, long a proponent of marijuana legalization and admitted user of it, later ran as a Libertarian candidate for president and U.S. Senate.
“Thank goodness it finally has come to New Mexico,” he told the New Mexico Political Report. “I wish it would have been much sooner. Colorado has jobs that will never ever, ever leave Colorado because they were the first.”