Latest Public Hearing Draws Smaller Crowd A public hearing on the revised version of proposed rule changes for the state Medical Cannabis Program on Monday drew far fewer people than a June hearing on the first version, and it was generally less contentious. One woman wondered aloud if the hearing was deliberately scheduled during the holidays in order to reduce attendance. The 50 people who spoke had many of the same criticisms of the proposed rule changes that were voiced last summer, but several also said they were pleased with the revisions. [continues 608 words]
WHAT'S ONE TOKE OVER THE LINE HERE? Eric Jackson points out, "We all know it's illegal to drive while intoxicated, and that it's illegal to have open containers of alcohol in a vehicle - but what about using marijuana? "Let's say a person has a medical marijuana card," he emails. "Is there an 'open container' law for pot? I ask because I observed a man toking on a marijuana pipe while stopped at a stoplight in Rio Rancho. Is it illegal to partake of marijuana while driving, even if one has not reached a level of intoxication that would cause impairment?" [continues 592 words]
Clearly, the far right wing of this country would love to return to a medieval, feudal state with them (the 0.1 percent) as our feudal lords. During those original good old times, the lords of the realm could confiscate any property accumulated by the lower classes arbitrarily at any time. The article ("In seizure of civil assets, police look for 'goodies,' " Nov. 11) about "civil asset forfeiture" shows this practice has now been resurrected. U.S. law enforcement and the Internal Revenue Service proudly admit to seizing millions of dollars worth of property and cash from private citizens when no laws have been broken and often where no criminality is even suspected. [continues 55 words]
Budget Bill Sent to Obama Calls for Backing off State-Run Programs For the first time ever, Congress has gone on record opposing federal intervention against state-sanctioned marijuana businesses in states like New Mexico that have medical marijuana programs. The federal budget bill passed recently by Congress includes a short provision that says "None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used ... to prevent such states from implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana." [continues 611 words]
Marijuana May Follow in Footsteps of Cigarette Industry in Luring New Users Last month, people voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia. As the movement toward marijuana legalization continues, lawmakers and policy experts are looking to the experiments in Colorado and Washington for guidance. We should not overlook, however, valuable lessons from our experience with another legal drug: tobacco. In the late 19th century, the landscape of tobacco consumption was very different than it is today. Tobacco use was much less prevalent, and cigarettes accounted for a tiny portion of consumption. [continues 654 words]
When you send your children off to school, you hope for a teacher who not only fills their minds but inspires them to make their lives extraordinary. Our schools are full of such wonderful teachers. But some of these teachers are burning out or being beaten down with the demands of conformity and administrative hoop-jumping. Worst of all, they are leaving. The latest loss is Katrina Guarascio, a creative writing teacher who for the past eight years was a beloved educator at V. Sue Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho until she resigned Dec. 3, leaving more than 170 students with a parade of substitute teachers who have come and gone not just since Guarascio's resignation but for three weeks in October when she was placed on administrative leave for reasons that have changed with the weather. [continues 842 words]
Student Essay About Jesus and Pot Ends With RR Teacher's Resignation What seemed at first to be an innocuous creative writing assignment sparked a controversy at a Rio Rancho high school that ultimately cost Katrina Gaurascio her job, the former English teacher said Tuesday. In response to the assignment, one student wrote an essay about Jesus distributing marijuana. Another student complained to her parents about it. Gaurascio, an English teacher at V. Sue Cleveland High School, ended up being put on paid leave for three weeks, and then later asked to change her creative writing class or resign - which on Dec. 3 she did. [continues 857 words]
Many Patients Complained They Couldn't Afford $50 Card State health officials have scrapped a proposed $50 annual fee for more than 12,000 New Mexicans licensed to buy medical marijuana, according to new proposed rules unveiled this week by the state Department of Health. The proposed $50 fee to renew a registry ID card was one of several proposed rule changes announced in May that drew fire from many licensed medical pot users and producers. About 500 people turned out at a public hearing in June, with most opposed to the proposed changes. [continues 368 words]
State House Dem Plans Legislation Modeled on Oregon Law, but Measure May Face GOP Challenge ALBUQUERQUE - The conversation about whether New Mexico should join other Western states in legalizing marijuana is cranking up as state lawmakers prepare for the 2015 legislative session. Rep. Bill McCamley, a Democrat from Southern New Mexico, took his case for legalization to fellow lawmakers Tuesday during a meeting of the interim Health and Human Services Committee. McCamley dismissed the stoner humor of 1970s comics Cheech and Chong and said this should be a serious debate. [continues 494 words]
The conversation about whether New Mexico should join other Western states in legalizing marijuana is cranking up as state lawmakers prepare for the 2015 legislative session. Rep. Bill McCamley, a Democrat from southern New Mexico, took his case for legalization to fellow lawmakers Tuesday during a meeting of the interim Health and Human Services Committee. McCamley dismissed the stoner humor of 1970s comics Cheech and Chong and said this should be a serious debate. [continues 484 words]
NOW THAT THE voters have spoken, I hope New Mexico small government Republicans rethink their lockstep support for the 80-plus-year failed big government federal prohibition on the cannabis plant. In 2010, Gov. Susana Martinez campaigned vowing to repeal New Mexico's medical marijuana law, which helps New Mexicans who have chronic conditions, or who might be terminally ill with cancer. After her inauguration, Martinez relented, saying "We have bigger issues that we have to deal with." In 2014, Martinez claimed that merely reducing marijuana penalties is a "horrible, horrible idea"? [continues 186 words]
SANTA FE - Santa Fe's city judge is dismissing citations issued by police for misdemeanor marijuana violations because the City Council has decided that people possessing small amounts of pot should instead be charged with a civil infraction. City employees were caught by surprise when the council in August approved an ordinance outright instead of having voters decide the issue. The ordinance took effect in September, but city employees didn't have new forms ready to charge violators with a civil infraction instead of a criminal violation. Municipal Court Judge Ann Yalman says she's been dismissing citations filed under the old law because she no longer has jurisdiction. Police say they'll stop sending misdemeanor citations to Municipal Court. [end]
One of the major arguments often heard in favor of marijuana decriminalization and legalization is that the only thing smoking weed threatens is a bag of Doritos. Now a groundbreaking study that originated at the Mind Research Network on the campus of the University of New Mexico shows regularly getting high causes more damage than late-night munchies on a waistline. In the study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Vince Calhoun, a distinguished research professor of electrical and computer engineering at UNM, used three MRI techniques over several years to monitor a group of "chronic" pot smokers and compare them to a control group. Working closely with the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas - including Dr. Francesca Filbey, director of Cognitive Neuroscience Research in Addictive Disorders and a former Mind Research Network colleague - he found that smoking marijuana at least three times a day over an extended period of time measurably reduces the volume of gray matter in a part of the brain associated with decision making and addiction. [continues 230 words]
Officials Defend Practice, 'Stops Criminal Activity' The amount of money the Albuquerque Police Department receives annually from federal forfeiture proceedings has doubled in the last five years, exceeding more than $1 million in the 2014 fiscal year, according to police records. That money is in addition to what the city receives from seizing and sometimes selling vehicles used in repeat DWI cases. Overall, Albuquerque received about $11 million from 2010 through 2014 fiscal years from property seized by law enforcement, according to the records. [continues 872 words]
Legalization Is Not About What State Condones but Rather What's Allowed This past week, D.C. advanced America's 21st-century war on its 20th-century war on drugs. Now that marijuana is somewhat legal, the city's African-American residents are less likely to be disproportionately arrested for a victimless crime. If the cannabis industry stays out of town, D.C. Council members, who should spend time fixing the city's public schools, won't be preoccupied with regulating a substance arguably less harmful than alcohol. And police officers who should be chasing bank robbers and murderers will no longer bust college students carrying dime bags. [continues 688 words]
UNM Professor Plays a Key Role in the Groundbreaking Research Longtime, chronic marijuana use causes significant abnormalities in brain function and structure - and perhaps lower IQ - according to a major new study conducted in part at the Mind Research Network on the campus of the University of New Mexico. Chronic users tend to have a smaller volume of gray matter in a part of the brain associated with decision making and addiction and a marked increase in a function called brain connectivity, which researchers said may be an attempt by the brain to make up for the decreased gray matter volume. [continues 729 words]
SANTA FE - Santa Fe police continue to file some marijuana citations under state criminal law despite a new city ordinance that reduces penalties for possession of small amounts of pot. About two of every five citations issued since the City Council's Aug. 27 vote were issued under the state law that carries a higher potential penalty than the city ordinance. City Councilor Signe Lindell said the council clearly asked that those cases be the lowest priority for police and that they stay in the city court system. Police spokeswoman Celina Espinoza said possession of small amounts of pot continues to be a low law enforcement priority for police. [end]
I WOULD LIKE to offer my opinion about marijuana decriminalization. Here in the state of New Mexico, we have some of the weakest marijuana laws of all states. Now obviously this would not include states that have already legalized marijuana - Washington and Colorado. You will hear the argument that too many people are in prison for non-violent - drug - crimes. Yet if we are specifically talking about marijuana ... this is not true. As you research our state laws regarding marijuana, you will find that you need to have over 100 pounds to get any significant time - over one year in prison. Having said that, we are wasting much time and taxpayer dollars to essentially lower a $50 fine to a $25 fine. This is basically what decriminalization will do [continues 118 words]
Results Are Not Binding, and It's Unclear If They Will Turn into Government Action Both advisory questions on the Bernalillo County ballot - marijuana decriminalization and a mental health tax - won big at the polls this week. But whether those results will translate into government action isn't clear. The county itself has little authority over marijuana laws, for example, and Tuesday's election results aren't binding, in any case. The issue hasn't advanced far in the Legislature during past sessions and that was before Republicans this week won control of the House. [continues 333 words]
A little-known battle in this country's marijuana war is underway in a small town of 1,500 in western Colorado, known (if at all) for its underground coal mines, 12 wineries, a microbrewery, organic vegetables and fruit - and its perfect climate for growing pot. The town is Paonia and, this November, its registered voters will decide whether to allow the sale of pot for recreational use. Looking back at the history of this town, nestled at the base of 11,400-foot Mount Lamborn on the North Fork of the Gunnison River, it is clear that the battle lines in today's culture war were drawn long ago. [continues 679 words]
Inside New Mexico
