Pubdate: Sat, 01 Mar 2014
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2014 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Dan Boyd

AGENCY: MORE POT PROVIDERS NEEDED

Health Department Wants to Ease Rules

SANTA FE - The state agency that runs New Mexico's medical marijuana 
program wants to bring more licensed producers on board and relax 
restrictions on how many pot plants can be grown after a survey that 
found the program was struggling to supply a growing number of 
certified patients.

If approved, the Department of Health's proposals would likely take 
effect later this year. They would be the first rule changes to the 
medical marijuana program since 2010.

"The goal of these adjustments is to ensure an adequate supply of 
medical cannabis is available for qualified patients in New Mexico," 
Department of Health spokesman Kenny Vigil said Friday.

Currently, the state's 23 licensed medical marijuana producers are 
limited to growing no more than 150 marijuana plants each.

That would increase under Health Department's proposed rule change, 
as producers each would be able to grow up to 150 mature plants and 
300 seedlings at a time.

Meanwhile, as many as 12 additional producers could be added to the 
program, upon approval of the plant rule, to better supply patients. 
The agency has not been accepting applications from new producers for 
several years.

Health Secretary Retta Ward said Friday that the proposed changes are 
based on last year's DOH-commissioned survey, which found that New 
Mexico producers were forced to turn away thousands of patients and 
ration their supply to others. Many producers that responded to the 
survey said they were frequently out of marijuana.

"We now have a plan to meet current and future patient needs," Ward 
said in a statement.

Len Goodman, executive director of the Santa Fe based NewMexiCann 
Natural Medicine, one of the state's 23 current medical marijuana 
producers, said the proposed changes could double the amount of 
medical pot available to patients.

However, he cautioned that some producers would have to move into 
bigger growing locations and invest more money into their operations 
in order to capitalize on the increased plant limits.

"I think it's great, assuming that producers take advantage of it," 
Goodman said.

He also said the Department of Health still must address whether 
licensing fees and certain growing restrictions will be affected by 
the proposed changes. And a shortage of medical marijuana could 
persist even with the changes, he added.

"It will dramatically improve the situation, but it will not totally 
resolve the shortage," Goodman told the Journal.

New Mexico was the first state to have its health department license 
and regulate a nonprofit medical marijuana distribution system. The 
medical pot program was approved by the Legislature in 2007 and 
signed into law by then-Gov. Bill Richardson.

Currently, there are 10,621 patients enrolled in the program, 
according to the Department of Health. That's an increase of more 
than 1,500 patients from early last year.

In other action taken Friday, Health Secretary Ward approved adding 
two medical conditions to the list of eligible conditions for 
cannabis use - Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. That 
decision took effect immediately.

However, the health secretary rejected the recommendation of a state 
medical marijuana advisory board to add a third condition - traumatic 
brain injury - to the list.

In explaining her decision, Ward said there are no studies examining 
the long-term impact of treating traumatic brain injuries with 
medical marijuana.

"Given the breadth of traumatic brain injuries, their causes and 
their effects, and given the dearth of evidence regarding long-term 
effects of cannabis usage for this condition, I cannot conclude that 
its addition to the list of qualifying conditions would be consistent 
with the purpose of the Compassionate Use Act and department 
regulations," Ward wrote.

With the addition of two medical conditions, there are now 19 
conditions under which patients can apply for a medical marijuana 
card. Chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder account for the 
largest segment of certified users.

At least one public hearing on the proposed Department of Health rule 
change will be held this spring, according to the agency. A date and 
location for the hearing had not been set as of Friday. After the 
hearing, the agency will decide whether to adopt the proposed changes.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom