Cannabis Control Division

NM cannabis regulators to hold hearing on packaging, ad rules

By |

The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division will hold a public rulemaking hearing next week regarding rules and regulations for labeling and marketing cannabis products, as well as health and safety protocols for packaging edible and topical cannabis products. 

The hearing will take place on Dec. 30 and the division has already started accepting written comments and will accept them until the end of the hearing. Oral comments can also be made during the hearing. 

The proposed rules would prohibit cannabis companies from advertising or marketing their products “on radio, television or other broadcast media, internet pop-ups and mass transit vehicles.” 

An exception to that rule would be for subscription broadcast services where subscribers are at least 21 years old. Advertisements that are on “billboards, posters, handbills or other visual media” that are within or can be seen within 300 feet of a school, church or daycare would also be prohibited under the proposed rule.  

The proposed rules would also prohibit the likeness of a celebrity or images that “are commonly used to market products to minors.”

Overall, the rules would prohibit branding that targets minors under 21, including branding that resembles products that are normally marketed towards kids. 

The rules would also create a general serving size of 10mg of THC for edibles and consumption areas would be required to provide a way to measure out a serving size if an on-site consumable product is packaged as more than one serving. Consumption areas would also be able to sell unlabeled cannabis products as long as a menu is provided with potency information.

cannabis courier

NM state regulators hear from public on proposed cannabis courier, manufacturing, retail rules

By |

The New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department and its Cannabis Control Division heard from the public on Thursday during a public rulemaking hearing regarding cannabis couriers, retail establishments and manufacturing facilities. 

The comments during the meeting varied from proposed regulations for packaging requirements, general business practices to cannabis deliveries to both businesses and residences. Albuquerque-based cannabis attorney Katy Duhigg brought up a series of issues she said she would like to see changed and offered specific suggestions. Duhigg also serves as a New Mexico state Senator, but said she was not speaking in her capacity as a lawmaker. 

Duhigg took issue with a proposed requirement that cannabis manufactures prove they have access to water rights because manufacturing doesn’t necessarily use water the same way cultivation does.    

“Requiring all manufacturers to prove water rights for their application, I think, is unreasonably burdensome, because it’s just not going to be a factor for a number of them,” Duhigg said. 

During the special legislative session surrounding the Cannabis Regulation Act, lawmakers added a provision that cannabis cultivation companies, which are often referred to as producers, have to show that they have legal access to water after many members of the public raised concerns about New Mexico’s scarce water supply.  

Duhigg also said she was concerned with a provision that would limit cannabis retail businesses from giving away free products to anyone but medical cannabis patients. 

“I think that businesses should be allowed to make the business decision to give free products if they so choose, Duhigg said. “It should be tracked and accounted for, but I don’t think there’s a compelling governmental interest in restricting who businesses can give their products away to for free.” 

Duhigg also suggested the department revisit a proposed rule that would limit cannabis deliveries to residential addresses. She said it would put an “unreasonable burden” on couriers to decide what is considered a residence. 

“It will reduce cannabis tourism in New Mexico, and there’s no compelling governmental interest in doing that,” Duhigg said.

cannabis cultivation

NM cannabis regulators set to accept applications for growers

By |

New Mexico cannabis regulators are one step closer to opening the proverbial floodgates for those who plan to apply for a cannabis cultivation license. 

The state’s Regulation and Licensing Department and its Cannabis Control Division announced on Tuesday that the department finalized rules and regulations for cannabis cultivation as well as a social and economic equity plan and plans for addressing possible cannabis shortages. 

The department also announced that it would start accepting cultivation applications several days ahead of the statutory deadline of Sept. 1. 

In a statement on Tuesday, RLD Superintendent Linda Trujillo said the rules “reflect the unique needs and perspectives of New Mexico residents, businesses, entrepreneurs and communities.”

“We are ready for business,” Trujillo said. “The Cannabis Control Division is committed to supporting licensees to maximize the economic opportunities that adult-use cannabis sales offer our state.”

The new rules create four different levels of cultivation licenses, based on the number of plants that a producer plans on growing. At the highest level, producers can have up to 8,000 flowering plants, but an unlimited number of immature plants. The rules seem to create a path for exceptions to the 8,000 plant rule, but also state that no cultivator may have more than 10,000 plants. 

The finalized rules also set a goal for the Cannabis Control Division to ensure that “at least 50 percent of applicants for licensure, licenses, and cannabis industry employees” represent groups and communities that have historically been negatively impacted by previous drug laws.  

For years, medical cannabis patient advocacy groups have raised concerns about the state’s Medical Cannabis Program taking a back seat to the new adult-use program.

1st Judicial District Court

Another medical cannabis company joins in legal action against the state

By |

A second medical cannabis company has filed a petition asking a state district judge to invalidate rules recently enacted by the New Mexico Department of Health. 

Pecos Valley Production, a medical cannabis company with dispensaries in the southern part of the state, filed a petition Monday in state district court calling for an annulment of regulatory rules that lawyers for the company called “arbitrary and capricious.”

The petition from Pecos Valley argues similar points as one filed last week, on behalf of cannabis producer and manufacturer Ultra Health. Both petitions are filed under the same case. Lawyers for Ultra Health, one of which is Brian Egolf, who also serves as the state’s Speaker of the House, argued that the Medical Cannabis Program and the DOH failed to show reasoning for new rules. Ultra Health’s lawyers also accused the state of copying regulations from other states that have a medical cannabis program like Oregon and Colorado. 

The petition from Pecos Valley Production also accused the state of adopting rules from other states instead of properly consulting with medical cannabis producers in New Mexico. “These industry participants are well versed in the day-to-day operations of the New Mexico medical cannabis industry and therefore are more likely to provide relevant New Mexico specific evidence than the standards cut and pasted from other states,” the second petition reads.

News

Dept. of Health proposes rules for medical cannabis consumption areas, patient reciprocity

By |

The New Mexico Department of Health has proposed a list of rule changes for the state’s Medical Cannabis Program, which would add guidelines for designated “consumption areas” and reciprocity for medical cannabis patients enrolled in medical cannabis programs in other states. 

After major changes to the state’s medical cannabis law made during the 2019 legislative session, the law now states that a consumption area is, “an area within a licensed premises approved by the department where cannabis may be consumed that complies with rule as established by the department.” 

The department’s proposed changes would require consumption areas to be “located on the premises of licensed non-profit producers” and medical cannabis patients who use cannabis in said areas to have a designated driver or use “other lawful means of transportation” when leaving. 

If the rule is finalized by the DOH Secretary Kathyleen Kunkel, medical cannabis producers who want to open a consumption area would be required to submit safety and security plans to the department for approval. Only existing producers would be able to apply to open consumption areas.  

The department has also proposed a rule that would outline reciprocity for medical cannabis patients from outside New Mexico. Not to be confused with a change in law that allows non-residents of New Mexico to enroll in the state’s Medical Cannabis Program, reciprocity would allow patients already enrolled in another state’s medical cannabis program to buy and consume cannabis in New Mexico without having to enroll in the program. A reciprocal patient would only need to provide identification and a medical cannabis card from their home state to purchase up to about 8 ounces of dried cannabis flower or corresponding extracts in a rolling three month period, which is consistent with what New Mexico cannabis patients can buy. Dispensaries would be required to enter reciprocal patient information in a DOH-run patient tracking system. 

Other changes include a new fee structure and new testing standards for medical cannabis producers.