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Cannabis advocates in New Mexico are calling on lawmakers to tighten the rules for the regulated marijuana industry and unlicensed cannabis businesses, arguing that businesses are failing in a saturated market that faces competition from unregulated businesses.
At a meeting of the legislature’s Economic and Rural Development and Policy Committee on Tuesday, cannabis industry leaders called on lawmakers to give the state’s cannabis regulators more authority to address unlicensed marijuana businesses.
“There’s a thriving illicit market; they’re not paying tax revenue; they’re not getting their products tested; they’re not packaging them right; they’re selling to minors,” said Justin Dye, CEO of licensed cannabis company R. Greenleaf, according to a report from KRQE news.
“Competing with people who don’t have to play by the rules, who don’t pay taxes, who don’t have to go through testing, who are a danger to our kids, we gotta step up and do something about that,” he added.
Dye presented a list of proposed policy changes to the committee, including a proposal for the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department (RLD) to add new inspectors to its Cannabis Control Division (CCD). Dye suggested increasing the number of inspectors to a level similar to other states such as Colorado and Oklahoma, which have three to five times as many inspectors per license holder. Until the CCD is able to deploy more inspectors, Dye proposed a temporary moratorium on issuing new cannabis business licenses.
“Not forever, let’s just calm everything down,” said Dye. “Let’s just simplify what we’re doing. Let’s enforce the rules that we have without bringing more and more folks into this that don’t have all the experience to do this.”
The proposal also calls for the state’s cannabis inspectors to have more enforcement authority over businesses that are not complying with regulations.
“Let’s give them the rights to search, seize, destroy, and charge people,” Dye told lawmakers.
Dye also called for a ban on hemp-derived cannabinoids, which are not subject to the same regulations as marijuana. A California ban on hemp THC went into effect last month, while a similar prohibition in New Jersey that went into effect on Saturday is not being enforced because of legal challenges.
“There’s about 20 states that have outlawed it or regulate it,” Dye said. “We need to at least have that conversation.”
Creating An Accessible Cannabis Industry
RLD spokeswoman Andrea Brown told the Santa Fe New Mexican in an email last month that New Mexico’s recreational marijuana legalization law “was established to make the industry equally accessible to anyone who wanted to own and operate a licensed cannabis business in New Mexico.” She noted that the state has seen success with the plan, with the regulated cannabis industry generating more than $1 billion in revenue in just two years.
Brown added that the CCD has “performed a record-setting number of inspections in the first half of 2024.”
“The CCD routinely assesses what is working and explores ways to find additional resources needed to hold bad actors accountable,” she added. “We will continue to work with lawmakers to revise the CRA as industry needs evolve, including discussing adding language that would give the CCD the ability to seize, embargo, and destroy illicit and illegal cannabis products when found.”
Ben Lewinger, executive director of the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, said that he supports regulators’ efforts to create a recreational marijuana industry that is accessible to potential business owners. But he says the state’s legalization law is missing “a key piece that specified that the Regulation and Licensing Department had the ability to throttle new licenses based on market conditions.” Citing an oversaturated market, Lewinger added that the industry group would continue to push for such a regulation.
At Tuesday’s legislative committee meeting, RLD superintendent Clay Bailey updated lawmakers on the CCD’s progress regulating the cannabis industry. Since the beginning of the year, the agency has performed 2,200 inspections of the state’s 3,000 licensed marijuana operations.
“We’ve struggled, as you’ve seen some of the news media on us, in terms of the percent of the inspections done, we’re working toward it and we’re working really hard,” said Bailey.
He also called for more funding and equipment for the agency, as well as increased authority over the industry by law enforcement.
“We have got to get some more authority if you want us to handle the cannabis,” Bailey said.
“}]] New Mexico cannabis advocates are calling on state lawmakers to tighten regulations and increase enforcement of marijuana and hemp businesses. Read More