Dominick Zurlo
Cannabis advisory board meeting unable to address qualifying conditions due to lack of quorum
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A state panel met but was unable to make any actual recommendations for adding more qualifying conditions to the list of reasons approved patients can use medical cannabis.
The New Mexico Medical Cannabis Advisory Board heard thoughts and recommendations from a handful of medical cannabis patients on Tuesday on how to improve the Medical Cannabis Program. The board will send Department of Health Secretary Kathyleen Kunkel their words of support for the dozens of patients and patient advocates who spoke about things like changing state statute to broaden who can use medical cannabis and social inequalities in who owns production companies.
The advisory board was put in place through state law to hear from petitioners who want certain qualifying conditions added to the list of reasons patients can legally use medical cannabis. There are currently almost 30 qualifying conditions that range from chronic pain to post traumatic stress disorder.
What began as a traditional advisory board meeting on Tuesday, evolved into a de facto listening session where patients and advocates aired their concerns about the program. All but one of the advisory board members attended the meeting by phone. But by the time the board got to the last three petitions, most of the board members left the call, resulting in a loss of quorum.
The issues raised before the loss of quorum were general suggestions for the program and not conditions the board has authority to actually weigh-in on.
