Partners in Planned Medical Cannabis Chain Blame State Obstruction Duke Rodriguez's plan to build a statewide chain of cannabis retail stores has hit a snag. Rodriguez, owner of Ultra Health LLC, contends that state regulators have slow-tracked his request to open at least 14 new stores, most in communities that now lack dispensaries. "We're just caught in this limbo with no formal response," Rodriguez said this week. "We have met every single request that they have presented, including evidence that we were able to secure product." [continues 362 words]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Rachael Speegle, 34, left a full-time job as a critical care nurse last year to work at an Albuquerque medical marijuana dispensary and growing operation started by her husband. Speegle quickly discovered that people who came to the Verdes Foundation dispensary in Albuquerque had lots of questions that called for her nursing skills. "Their questions were so simple," she said. For example: "How do I talk to my doctor about this? Why does my nausea feel better when I smoke it than when I eat it?" [continues 1002 words]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Attorneys general for New Mexico and 32 other states have asked the federal government to require methadone clinics to report to prescription drug monitoring programs, which track patients who received prescriptions of controlled substances, including narcotic painkillers. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said prescribers in the state need to know if people enrolled in methadone maintenance programs are trying to get prescriptions of opioid drugs from other sources. "Patients should not be able to go to methadone clinics and then also doctor shop for other drugs," James Hallinan, a spokesman for Balderas, said in a written statement. [continues 321 words]
NM Medical Pot Producer, Nev. Tribe to Build Growing Facility Near Vegas A New Mexico medical cannabis producer this week announced a joint venture with the Las Vegas Paiute tribe to build a large growing facility and two dispensaries on tribal land in Nevada. Duke Rodriguez, founder of Ultra Health LLC, said the $5 million project could serve as a model for a similar deal in coming months with a pueblo in New Mexico. One of the two planned Nevada dispensaries will be located on a 31-acre parcel of Paiute land in downtown Las Vegas, where the tribe now operates a cigarette retail business and minimart, tribal and Ultra Health leaders said after a news conference in Las Vegas. [continues 389 words]
Department of Health Regulations Kept Names Confidential Since 2007 The names of New Mexico nonprofits licensed to grow and sell medical marijuana were posted Monday on the state Department of Health website. The disclosure marks the first time the names of licensed nonprofit producers have been revealed publicly since lawmakers approved the medical cannabis program in 2007. The website lists the names and addresses of 23 nonprofit producers licensed several years ago by the Department of Health. It also lists the names of 12 nonprofits approved for licensure last year, many of which do not yet operate dispensaries. [continues 255 words]
35 Licensed Nonprofits Will Be Made Public The names of New Mexico nonprofits licensed to grow and sell medical marijuana will be identified publicly on the state Department of Health's website today for the first time since lawmakers approved the cannabis program in 2007. The names of all 35 licensed nonprofit producers will be posted at nmhealth.org, together with addresses of those with active dispensaries, agency spokesman Kenny Vigil said. The agency will also honor requests from the public to view records submitted by producers, including applications and other records, Vigil said. [continues 239 words]
For-Profits Play Increasing Role Eric Howard takes great pride in his "ladies," each of which can yield up to 16 ounces of medical cannabis in a 16-week life cycle. "They get so heavy, they fall over right at the end," said Howard, master grower at an 11-acre growing facility in Bernalillo owned by Ultra Health LLC. A trellis system is needed to support the heavy flowering branches of the mature plants. Howard urges a visitor to feel one of the dense flowers, which leaves a sticky resin on the fingers. [continues 1575 words]
Producers: Rule Change Will Expose Us to Criminals SANTA FE - Medical marijuana producers told state health officials Wednesday that disclosing the locations of growing facilities would invite criminals to burglarize the sites, while open-records advocates countered that greater transparency will help ensure fair and effective management of the state's cannabis program. "We have a product that criminals want," said Eric Briones, founder of the Minerva Canna Group of Los Ranchos, one of 23 nonprofits licensed by the state Department of Health to grow and sell medical pot. Minerva must conduct its business in cash because banks don't take deposits from cannabis growers, he said. "We have cannabis and we have cash." [continues 411 words]
Proposed Rules Would List Distributors but Not Those Who Produce Own Supply In a strongly worded letter, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said Monday that a Department of Health proposal to disclose the identities of licensed nonprofit producers of medical cannabis doesn't go far enough to abide by the state's open records law. Balderas contends that state law doesn't authorize the agency to withhold the names of more than 4,000 New Mexicans licensed to grow their own supply of medical pot. [continues 467 words]
Patients in Rural Areas Have to Pick Up Weed in Parking Lots Medical marijuana patients in Albuquerque and Santa Fe can go to a nearby dispensary to obtain their marijuana. But patients in rural New Mexico - many of them ill - often are forced to meet with delivery drivers in parking lots of businesses such as McDonald's and Walmart to purchase their pot. That puts them at risk of violating federal drug laws, violates their privacy and puts them in danger because they have to carry cash, according to a lawsuit filed against the state Department of Health. [continues 601 words]
Looser PTSD Rules Boost Prescriptions The number of New Mexicans licensed to buy medical marijuana surged by almost 50 percent this year, in part because of a court ruling in April that eased some qualifications required to get a license, a state official said. About 18,780 people are now licensed by the state Department of Health to buy medical pot, up 48 percent from 12,647 on Jan. 1, said Andrea Sundberg, director of the agency's medical cannabis program. An advocate for the state's medical cannabis law said the spike in licensed patients also reflects a growing acceptance of medical marijuana among patients and physicians. [continues 399 words]
If All Pass Muster, Medical Pot Growers in NM Will Rise to 35 Health officials have selected 12 applicants to become licensed nonprofit producers for New Mexico's medical cannabis program, subject to site visits showing they comply with state regulations. If all 12 receive licenses, it would increase the total number of licensed medical pot producers to 35, the New Mexico Department of Health said Monday. No licensed producers have been added to current list of 23 since 2010. The agency did not identify the 12 selected applicants, despite a directive announced in July by Gov. Susana Martinez that the names of medical marijuana producers and their employees be made public. [continues 275 words]
Painkillers Fuel 19% Increase in 2014 More New Mexicans died last year of drug overdoses than in any other year on record. The 536 deaths in 2014 mark a 19 percent increase over the year before, following a two-year decline, according to the state Department of Health. That number shows the state needs to step up efforts to curb addiction, including better monitoring of prescription painkillers, according to state Epidemiologist Dr. Michael Landen. He said New Mexico also needs to expand the use of naloxone, a prescription drug that can counteract a drug overdose, by making it more widely available to law enforcement officers and the public. Far more New Mexicans could have died last year without naxalone, which was used successfully in over 900 cases. [continues 517 words]
'Seed-To-Sale' Idea Tracks Plants' Lives New Mexico has awarded a contract to a Florida-based software company to develop a medical marijuana "seedto-sale" inventory system designed to track each plant through the production cycle and cut the likelihood of fraudulent sales, a company official said. The system also calls for medical marijuana patients to receive a photo-ID smartcard that contains an integrated circuit, said Patrick Vo, co-CEO of BioTrackTHC, the firm awarded the contract. Swiping the card also will verify the card's authenticity and show the retailer how much marijuana the patient has purchased that month, even if the patient has visited several retailers, he said. New Mexico has about 14,100 patients licensed to buy medical cannabis. [continues 414 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]
Lawsuit Filed Against Presbyterian After Employee Loses Her Job A New Mexico nurse practitioner participating in New Mexico's medical marijuana program says in a lawsuit that Presbyterian Healthcare Services violated her rights by firing her after a drug screening. Donna Smith, who said she is licensed to use medical marijuana to treat symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, was fired in February just four days after she began a job at a Presbyterian urgent care clinic in Albuquerque, according to a lawsuit filed in District Court. [continues 525 words]
Medicaid's Decision to Pay for Naloxone, Used to Revive Overdose Victims, Should Widen Its Availability Medicaid will now pay for a medication that serves as an antidote for drug overdoses, a move intended to reduce the high death rate among New Mexicans who use prescription pain killers. The drug naloxone has been used for years by hospitals and paramedics to revive overdose victims. State health officials, in announcing the change last week, want more medical providers to write prescriptions for the drug and want to encourage more pharmacies to stock it, said Dr. Mike Landen, state epidemiologist for the New Mexico Department of Health. [continues 369 words]
Growers: Increases Will Force Medical Pot Users to Buy on Streets About 11,000 New Mexicans licensed to buy medical marijuana would pay a first-ever fee of $50 a year to renew their registry ID cards under regulations prop o s ed by the state Department of Health. Nonprofit producers that grow medical pot say the proposed rules would also triple the cost of their annual licensing fees to $90,000 for those that grow the proposed maximum of 150 mature plants and 300 seedlings. [continues 537 words]
New Rules Would Require Doctor Notification; Prescription Drug Check The New Mexico Medical Board will consider new rules for the medical marijuana program. The New Mexico Medical Board will consider new rules this month for certifying patients for the medical marijuana program. A board spokeswoman said the proposed rules would ensure clinicians observe standard medical practices, such having as an ongoing relationship with a patient, complete with follow-up visits. A critic, however, said the rules will discourage doctors from participating in the program. [continues 406 words]
Board to Consider Other Disorders, Too Post traumatic stress disorder will remain a qualifying condition for a medical cannabis license in New Mexico, state Health Secretary Retta Ward announced. The announcement settles months of rancorous debate that began last year when an Albuquerque psychiatrist filed a petition to remove PTSD as a condition that allows patients to obtain a state license to legally buy or grow pot. The petition contained "insufficient medical and scientific evidence" to remove PTSD as a qualifying condition, Ward said in a written statement. [continues 173 words]