Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Dan McKay

SUIT SEEKS INFO ON MEDICAL POT GROWERS

A lawsuit filed Thursday accuses the New Mexico Health Department of 
violating state law by refusing to release the names of people with a 
license to produce medical marijuana.

Freelance journalist Peter St. Cyr and the New Mexico Foundation for 
Open Government filed a complaint Thursday asking a judge to strike 
down a state regulation that aims to keep secret the names of people 
or groups who have applied for or received licenses to produce 
medical marijuana.

The secrecy "distorts the market for medicine, deprives New Mexicans 
of important information about their neighborhoods, and has the 
potential to promote cronyism and corruption in the awarding of 
valuable state licenses," the lawsuit says.

St. Cyr and the Foundation for Open Government also argue that the 
regulation isn't permitted under the state's open-records law.

"Executive agencies cannot exempt their records from the Inspection 
of Public Records Act by administrative fiat," they said in the lawsuit.

The suit names the state Department of Health and its records 
custodian, Daniel M. Jacobs, as defendants. It was filed in state 
District Court in Albuquerque.

The department said it couldn't comment on pending litigation.

St. Cyr is an independent journalist who's been investigating and 
reporting on New Mexico's medical marijuana program since 2007, 
according to the suit. The Foundation for Open Government is a 
nonpartisan group dedicated to transparency in government.

They say the state medical marijuana law allows the names of patients 
to be kept confidential, not the identities of licensed producers.

Charles "Kip" Purcell filed the suit on behalf of St. Cyr and the foundation.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom