“When we go in there to report them and their activities, they do nothing.
Austin Fisher of Source New Mexico
At this weekend’s House of Representatives session in New Mexico, on the agenda is an initiative by its cannabis regulator requesting more powers to combat unlawful cannabis industry actors.
House Bill 10 would establish a new police agency under the state insurance regulator to enforce state cannabis laws. It received unanimous support in both committees of the House Commerce and Economic Development, on February 3, and Judiciary, on Monday.
House Speaker Javier Martinez of Albuquerque voiced concerns to the judiciary committee on Monday about illicit cannabis being detrimental to legal cannabis markets.
New Mexico legalized medical cannabis for medical use in 2007, and recreational use will become legal by 2021. Martinez noted that local police departments and the Cannabis Control Division within RLD lack the capacity to effectively oversee illicit cannabis operations.
“Had we included this language in our original bill, I believe this would have assisted RLD in more effectively targeting these individuals and groups,” Martinez noted.
This bill would expand RLD’s powers to restrict cannabis products suspected of being adulterated or misbranded dangerously or fraudulently. Its RLD Superintendent Clay Bailey told committee members that bad actors “just ignore us”.
“When we go in there and tell them about what’s happened and that we want them to stop, they refuse. So far we’ve tried everything,” he stated.
This bill proposes the establishment of an enforcement bureau within the Office of Superintendent of Insurance to investigate possible illegal cannabis operations; search for and seize/embargo illicit cannabis supplies; make arrests as needed and facilitate investigations into such operations.
Under this bill, the Cannabis Control Division would also have authority to conduct inspections at licensed producers and retailers of cannabis, whether announced or unannounced.
Minority Floor Leader Gail Armstrong of Magdalena also sponsors this bill alongside Representatives Doreen Gallegos (D-Las Cruces), Marian Matthews (D-Albuquerque), and Art De La Cruz (D-Albuquerque). For more on this topic please see Source New Mexico.
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