Farmers Can Grow Their Own Marijuana, Says New Mexico's New Law

By Samantha Beck
Published Jul 04, 2007

New Mexico isn't the first state to allow medicinal marijuana to be legally grown on state soil-eleven other states, including Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington-have legalized the plant.

Although Maryland doesn't have a law that protects patients using medicinal marijuana from jail, if a judge can be convince that the defendant needed it out of medical necessity, that person will be kept out of jail. A bill regarding medical marijuana was recently vetoed by Connecticut's governor.

In all 50 states, distributing and using marijuana for recreational purposes are illegal.

New Mexico's marijuana law was passed in March and signed by Gov. Richardson, who is currently running under the Democrat ticket for the presidential nomination.

Though marijuana has been legalized for medical purposes in other states, New Mexico is the only state to officially license workers and facilities to grow marijuana.

The state will have to contact its Dept. of Health by Oct. 1 to receive official licensing to give to both marijuana farmers and in-state growing facilities and issues guidelines for a distribution system.

With that in mind, New Mexico's Attorney General Gary King was contacted by the state health department to determine whether state workers could be prosecuted under federal law for running a medicinal marijuana registry and licensing marijuana farmers and facilities.

Proceeding with care, the health department will be taking the whole process step by step as no other state that has legalized medicinal marijuana is involved in the production of it.

The main reason for legalizing the other otherwise illegal drug is to provide a safe way for ill patient to get their supply, one that doesn't involve drug dealers or growing their own.

Until New Mexico has finalized their plans for producing marijuana, patients in need of the drug must get themselves. Also, the state will start collecting applications from patients whose doctors sign off on the marijuana program.

Once approved, the patients or their caretakers will receive a card certifying that they are allowed to carry up to six ounces on their persons and have four mature plants and three immature seedlings. The health department says that's enough for a three-month supply.

The new law allows the use of marijuana to quell symptoms associated with cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, and HIV-AIDS.

State to let patients grow their own pot

By DIANA DEL MAURO | The New Mexican
June 28, 2007

When lobbyists rallied this year at the Roundhouse to legalize medical marijuana, they distinctly said patients wouldn’t be growing this mind-altering herb. Rather, the state Health Department would create a secure production and distribution system — the first state to do so.

After years of failed attempts, the measure won approval, making New Mexico the 12th state with such a law.

Now, as the law is about to go into effect Sunday, the message has changed. In a surprise move Thursday, the Health Department unveiled a provision that allows patients to grow a limited number of marijuana plants with protection from state prosecution.

That angered the law-enforcement community. Jim Burleson, director of the state sheriffs’ and police association, said having individual growers in the state could be a big problem.

“If a person is growing their own (marijuana), there is no quality control and no quantity control — and it’s absolutely contrary to what was discussed at the (legislative) session,” he said.


Also, it “sets up” patients for a high amount of scrutiny from federal law-enforcement agencies, he added. Using or distributing marijuana is illegal under federal law, and state law cannot protect violators from federal prosecution.

The Health Department says qualified patients and caregivers may cultivate as many as four mature marijuana plants and three immature marijuana seedlings. The rule also gives the Health Department the power to audit the number of plants at a patient’s home, said Dr. Steve Jenison, the program’s medical director.

Jenison said even if a state-licensed production and distribution system is put in place, patients would still have the option to grow marijuana plants at home.

Jenison said the Health Department decided to allow patients to grow pot because a state-run system could be months in the making, if it happens at all. Under the new law, the Health Department is supposed to issue rules about developing the production and distribution system by Oct. 1.

Because of a potential conflict between state and federal law (the federal government still views marijuana as an illicit drug that has no medicinal properties), the Health Department is seeking advice from the Attorney General’s Office for the best way to carry out that aspect of the new law.

“We cannot proceed ... until we have a better understanding of the legal implications,” Jenison said.

Burleson was unaware of this development until the Health Department issued a news release about the Medical Cannabis Program on Thursday. Though the Health Department invited various law-enforcement associations to planning meetings about how to implement the new law, most refused to participate.

Burleson said the association’s lawyer warned against taking part in the planning sessions, “lest we be considered co-conspirators in distributing a controlled substance.”

Jenison said the Health Department won’t give patients information on where to obtain seeds or plants or how to grow marijuana.

But Burleson asks, “Where is the first seed or plant going to come from? That’s going to be the first illegal act.”

Patients who don’t want to grow marijuana must find a way to obtain their medicine on the black market — at least for now. Patients and caregivers on the state’s registry can possess up to 6 ounces of marijuana and be protected from state prosecution, as long as they don’t use it fraudulently.

“This program is about providing much-needed relief for New Mexicans suffering from debilitating diseases,” Dr. Alfredo Vigil, the new health secretary, said in a news release. “We will also monitor the use of medical marijuana and prevent abuse.”

The law is limited to people with conditions such as cancer, HIV-AIDS, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis.

Contact Diana Del Mauro at 986-3066 or dianadm@sfnewmexican.com.


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New Mexico approves medical use of marijuana

Mon Apr 2, 2007 7:22PM EDT

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Reuters) - New Mexico doctors are allowed to prescribe marijuana to help some seriously ill patients manage symptoms including pain and nausea under a bill signed into law by Gov. Bill Richardson on Monday.

"This law will provide much-needed relief for New Mexicans suffering from debilitating diseases," Richardson said at the signing ceremony. "It is the right thing to do."

The southwestern state is the 12th in the United States to endorse the use of marijuana for medical uses. New Mexico's state legislature is the fourth in the country to enact such a measure.


The law allows marijuana use by patients suffering from several conditions, such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis and epilepsy, according to a news release from Richardson's office.

Californians voted to allow use of medical marijuana in 1996. In 1978, New Mexico began allowing very limited use of marijuana, or its active ingredient, THC, to help control cancer patients' nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, but only when other nausea-control drugs failed.

The law creates a panel of eight expert physicians and other health care workers to supervise the program. Qualified patients must be under a doctor's care and supervision, the news release said.

"I would like to thank the governor for ... giving me another shot at life," said Essie DeBone, who suffers from advanced complications from HIV/AIDS.


© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

New Mexico Medical Marijuana Law Sets Stage for Drive in Congress

Presidential Candidate Richardson Signs 12th Medical Marijuana Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today's signing of the nation's 12th state medical marijuana law by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) will jump-start efforts to reform federal policy on medical marijuana, advocates said today. The signing comes in the wake of new research further documenting marijuana's medical value.

New Mexico now joins Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington in protecting medical marijuana patients from arrest. Richardson, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, actively lobbied for the bill's passage.

"Governor Richardson's action is the clearest sign yet that the politicians are finally catching up with the people on the issue of medical marijuana," said Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) in Washington, D.C. "Support for medical marijuana is overwhelming — 78 percent in a national Gallup poll — and backing from the medical community is solidifying as new research continues to document marijuana's medical benefits. Support in Congress keeps growing, and this could be the year the federal government finally ends its cruel attacks on the sick in states where medical marijuana is legal."

MPP is working closely with other organizations and supportive members of Congress to pass an amendment to end federal medical marijuana raids in states with medical marijuana laws. Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia recently joined MPP's lobbying effort.

A University of California study published in the Feb. 13 issue of the journal Neurology found that marijuana effectively relieved a type of severe nerve pain that afflicts hundreds of thousands with HIV/AIDS, and is similar to the type of pain experienced by many patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and other illnesses. A wide variety of medical and health organizations support legal access to medical marijuana, including the American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, and Lymphoma Foundation of America.

With more than 21,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.

Date: 4/2/2007

House rejects bill to legalize medical use of marijuana

Barry Massey | The Associated Press
March 9, 2007

A proposal to legalize the medical use of marijuana failed Thursday in the House, dashing hopes of advocates who had picked up the support of Gov. Bill Richardson for the measure.

The Senate previously had approved the proposal, and it would have gone to the governor had it cleared the House. Richardson had said he would sign the proposal into law.

But the House narrowly rejected the bill, with 36 voting against it and 33 supporting it.

Opponents disputed that marijuana was an effective medicine. "Medically it just really has no value. For us to approve a drug like this tells our children and tells the rest of the people in this state that we, somehow as leaders, give tacit approval to the use of this drug," said Rep. John Heaton, D-Carlsbad and a pharmacist. "That is absolutely wrong for us to do."

He described marijuana as "the No. 1 gateway drug to abusing other drugs in our society."




The proposal would have allowed the use of marijuana for pain or other symptoms of debilitating illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, HIV-AIDS and certain spinal-cord injuries.

Supporters said marijuana could help patients who don't respond to other treatment, such as an individual who suffers from nausea because of treatments for cancer.

"If it offers one person ... the pain relief or the help they need, who are we in this body to say no?" said House Republican Whip Dan Foley of Roswell.

Under the legislation, the Health Department would establish a system for patients to obtain marijuana.

A doctor or other health-care provider would certify to the agency that someone suffers from a qualifying illness.

Patients could not grow marijuana, as in some states that have legalized medical marijuana.

The department would have been responsible for licensing marijuana providers who would produce it in "facilities within New Mexico housed on secured grounds."

Opponents of the bill said marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and patients in New Mexico could be subject to potential federal prosecution.

But Rep. Antonio "Moe" Maestas, D-Albuquerque, said it was the legal responsibility of the state to regulate the practice of medicine within its boundaries. "I think these issues are better left to local practitioners and ill patients than federal bureaucrats," he said.

Initially, the bill failed on a 33-33 tie vote. However, lawmakers immediately reconsidered, and then the measure failed 33-36.

Despite the House vote, advocates vowed to continue their efforts.

"We'll try it till it gets through. We're not going to give up on the state's patient community," said Erin Armstrong, a 25-year-old cancer victim after whom the legislation was named.

"This is a matter of compassion. It's a very personal matter," said Patty Jennings, the wife of Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell.

She is battling cancer and taking morphine, which she said is much more powerful and dangerous than marijuana would be. "People who are not there don't always understand that we're asking ... to have all the options available to us."

Unless states are willing to step forward and challenge the federal government on the issue, the federal policy will never be changed, she said.

The medical marijuana bill is Senate Bill 238.