Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Las Cruces - As New Mexico continues to refine the growing medical marijuana industry, Las Cruces producers and lawmakers are looking to improve the system and are casting an eye toward future growth and financial success.
This weekend, education about the use of medical marijuana will be featured at the 2016 Southern New Mexico Cannabis Expo at Hotel Encanto. The expo leaders expect to educate and inform the public, as well as provide consultations to patients seeking to get approval from the state through a doctor's recommendation, and will draw providers and physicians from around the state.
The state's medical marijuana program was created in 2007 under the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, which allows "the beneficial use of medical cannabis in a regulated system for alleviating symptoms caused by debilitating medical conditions and their medical treatments," according to NMDOH. It remains illegal under federal law, but President Obama's administration has leaned toward non-interference with states that determine their own regulations for medical and recreational use.
The economic impact on New Mexico is significant. According to the Department of Health, during the first quarter of 2016, sales tallied $9,964,932. Producers paid $768,605 in gross receipts taxes to the state. Producers spent $79,944 for required testing of their product. Salaries, stipends and other compensation in the industry totaled $2,974,412 during the same period.
Las Cruces providers say there are still significant hurdles in running a successful dispensary here, due to some changes in state law as well as the fear of patients who live beyond the Border Patrol checkpoints who decline to come to Las Cruces and risk taking their medicine back to Alamogordo, T or C or any other destination that requires them to pass through a checkpoint, said Vivian Moore, the executive director of Mother Earth Herbs, the first of two clinics providing medical marijuana to licensed patients in Las Cruces.
There were roughly 25,000 patients approved by the New Mexico Department of Health statewide as of March 1, with roughly 1,500 patients in Doña Ana County. Added regulations have increased the cost for most operators, Moore said.
"It changed considerably," she said of the marketplace. "We've gone from relatively minor regulations that were working well."
Mother Earth, which began sales in January, 2011, saw a decline in business when a second dispensary, MJExpress-O opened in town. She estimates 50 percent of those who hold licenses in Doña Ana County have permission to grow their own marijuana. With two clinics in town, it restricts the customer base for the remaining 50 percent who patronize the dispensaries. Still, she said, she had 455 individual patients during the previous fiscal quarter.
Production and price
The cost at the cash register will depend on the amount and type of strain you purchase, and depends on which clinic you patronize. A quick check last week showed per-gram prices for smokeable marijuana ran between $8 and $15 around the state. Edible products will vary in price based on how much of the active ingredients are in various products, which are produced for those who avoid smoking.
Additional products include vaporizers, and tinctures to be dropped under the tounge. The drops are especially in demand for young patients who have been approved for medicinal use.
But the cost to the producers just got a kick in the form of an increased plant limit that came with increased cost.
Most dispensaries in the state are their own producers - meaning they grow their medicine for sale or incorporate it into the edible medicinal properties - said N.M. Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces, a proponent of medical marijuana and supporter of moving toward regulated, taxed, recreational use by adults.
Recent legislation allowed producers to increase from 150 to 450 plants of all stages of growth, which is a boon for production. But it came at a cost, Moore said.
"Our license fee is $30,000 for the first 150 plants and $10,000 for every additional 50 plants to a maximum of $90,000," she said. "And who pays that fee? Patients.
"If all 35 (statewide) producers go to 450 plant count, that is over $3 million on the backs of patients," she added. "Why does the poorest state in the national with a medical cannabis plan have the highest per-plant fee?"
Lifting the plant limits are key to growing the industry, providing necessary medicine to qualified patients and to expansion as the industry grows, McCamley said. Further expansion into recreational use has been seen to dramatically increase revenue in states that have legalized recreational use.
"The problem when you artificially limit the number of plants and there is an increase in demand ... the amount of people that have gotten medical cards has risen, and it's a good thing," he said. "There are so many people using marijuana for ailments, PTSD, chronic pain, and they are replacing opioids."
Moving forward
McCamley said three primary hurdles need to be addressed.
First, a delay in people getting prescription cards approved or renewed has been reported. The state will have to work to accommodate increased requests, he said.
Second, the cap on producers plan count means the prices will rise because supplies will be limited.
Third, the state should evaluate why the former $45,000 fee was doubled without an explanation.
And, moving into adult recreational use makes sense financially and politically, as a majority of state voters, 60 percent, McCamley said, support recreational use with regulation and taxation. It would also eliminate the black market demand that often fuels violence.
"Why are we saying alcohol is OK and marijuana, although safer to use than alcohol in so many ways, we are making it illegal?" McCamley asked. "We are allowing murderers in Mexico to make money off a substance less harmful than beer, wine and whiskey. And, we could be keeping the money here to use."
Marijuana enforcement last year cost the state, through police courts and prison, some $33 million, McCamley said.
He noted that if the state pursues recreational use, it's vital that any levied taxes not apply to those with medical needs and that they are protected from price increases for their medicine.
Easing into recreational use while protecting medical patients and decreasing the load on state coffers will, in the end, be a benefit on several economic levels, he said. And, it's something New Mexicans should decide for ourselves, he added.
"We can do a better job at the state level of making this program more accessable and keep people from dying from (opioid) overdose," McCamley said. "The feds need to let states do this on their own."
Jason Gibbs may be reached at 575-541-5451 or jgibbs@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter@fjgwriter.
If you go
What: 2016 Southern New Mexico Medical Cannabis Expo
When: Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25
Where: Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor Blvd.
Entrance fee: $20 each day for non-patients, $10 each day with card for medical cannabis patients. On-site doctor fees range from $150 to $300.
Info: nmcannaexpo@gmail.com or visit 2016 Southern New Mexico Medical Cannabis Expo on Facebook
Qualifying conditions for the Medical Cannabis Program
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
- Cancer
- Crohn's Disease
- Epilepsy
- Glaucoma
- Hepatitis C Infection currently receiving antiviral treatment
- HIV/AIDS
- Huntington's Disease o Hospice Care
- Inclusion Body Myositis
- Intractable Nausea/Vomiting
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord
- Painful Peripheral Neuropathy
- Parkinson's disease
- Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Severe Chronic Pain
- Severe Anorexia/Cachexia
- Spasmodic Torticollis (Cervical Dystonia)
- Ulcerative Colitis
- Inflammatory autoimmune‐mediated arthritis
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical Cannabis Expo Highlights Potential
Author: Jason Gibbs
Contact: (575) 541-5400
Photo Credit: Jett Loe
Website: Las Cruces Sun-News
This weekend, education about the use of medical marijuana will be featured at the 2016 Southern New Mexico Cannabis Expo at Hotel Encanto. The expo leaders expect to educate and inform the public, as well as provide consultations to patients seeking to get approval from the state through a doctor's recommendation, and will draw providers and physicians from around the state.
The state's medical marijuana program was created in 2007 under the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, which allows "the beneficial use of medical cannabis in a regulated system for alleviating symptoms caused by debilitating medical conditions and their medical treatments," according to NMDOH. It remains illegal under federal law, but President Obama's administration has leaned toward non-interference with states that determine their own regulations for medical and recreational use.
The economic impact on New Mexico is significant. According to the Department of Health, during the first quarter of 2016, sales tallied $9,964,932. Producers paid $768,605 in gross receipts taxes to the state. Producers spent $79,944 for required testing of their product. Salaries, stipends and other compensation in the industry totaled $2,974,412 during the same period.
Las Cruces providers say there are still significant hurdles in running a successful dispensary here, due to some changes in state law as well as the fear of patients who live beyond the Border Patrol checkpoints who decline to come to Las Cruces and risk taking their medicine back to Alamogordo, T or C or any other destination that requires them to pass through a checkpoint, said Vivian Moore, the executive director of Mother Earth Herbs, the first of two clinics providing medical marijuana to licensed patients in Las Cruces.
There were roughly 25,000 patients approved by the New Mexico Department of Health statewide as of March 1, with roughly 1,500 patients in Doña Ana County. Added regulations have increased the cost for most operators, Moore said.
"It changed considerably," she said of the marketplace. "We've gone from relatively minor regulations that were working well."
Mother Earth, which began sales in January, 2011, saw a decline in business when a second dispensary, MJExpress-O opened in town. She estimates 50 percent of those who hold licenses in Doña Ana County have permission to grow their own marijuana. With two clinics in town, it restricts the customer base for the remaining 50 percent who patronize the dispensaries. Still, she said, she had 455 individual patients during the previous fiscal quarter.
Production and price
The cost at the cash register will depend on the amount and type of strain you purchase, and depends on which clinic you patronize. A quick check last week showed per-gram prices for smokeable marijuana ran between $8 and $15 around the state. Edible products will vary in price based on how much of the active ingredients are in various products, which are produced for those who avoid smoking.
Additional products include vaporizers, and tinctures to be dropped under the tounge. The drops are especially in demand for young patients who have been approved for medicinal use.
But the cost to the producers just got a kick in the form of an increased plant limit that came with increased cost.
Most dispensaries in the state are their own producers - meaning they grow their medicine for sale or incorporate it into the edible medicinal properties - said N.M. Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces, a proponent of medical marijuana and supporter of moving toward regulated, taxed, recreational use by adults.
Recent legislation allowed producers to increase from 150 to 450 plants of all stages of growth, which is a boon for production. But it came at a cost, Moore said.
"Our license fee is $30,000 for the first 150 plants and $10,000 for every additional 50 plants to a maximum of $90,000," she said. "And who pays that fee? Patients.
"If all 35 (statewide) producers go to 450 plant count, that is over $3 million on the backs of patients," she added. "Why does the poorest state in the national with a medical cannabis plan have the highest per-plant fee?"
Lifting the plant limits are key to growing the industry, providing necessary medicine to qualified patients and to expansion as the industry grows, McCamley said. Further expansion into recreational use has been seen to dramatically increase revenue in states that have legalized recreational use.
"The problem when you artificially limit the number of plants and there is an increase in demand ... the amount of people that have gotten medical cards has risen, and it's a good thing," he said. "There are so many people using marijuana for ailments, PTSD, chronic pain, and they are replacing opioids."
Moving forward
McCamley said three primary hurdles need to be addressed.
First, a delay in people getting prescription cards approved or renewed has been reported. The state will have to work to accommodate increased requests, he said.
Second, the cap on producers plan count means the prices will rise because supplies will be limited.
Third, the state should evaluate why the former $45,000 fee was doubled without an explanation.
And, moving into adult recreational use makes sense financially and politically, as a majority of state voters, 60 percent, McCamley said, support recreational use with regulation and taxation. It would also eliminate the black market demand that often fuels violence.
"Why are we saying alcohol is OK and marijuana, although safer to use than alcohol in so many ways, we are making it illegal?" McCamley asked. "We are allowing murderers in Mexico to make money off a substance less harmful than beer, wine and whiskey. And, we could be keeping the money here to use."
Marijuana enforcement last year cost the state, through police courts and prison, some $33 million, McCamley said.
He noted that if the state pursues recreational use, it's vital that any levied taxes not apply to those with medical needs and that they are protected from price increases for their medicine.
Easing into recreational use while protecting medical patients and decreasing the load on state coffers will, in the end, be a benefit on several economic levels, he said. And, it's something New Mexicans should decide for ourselves, he added.
"We can do a better job at the state level of making this program more accessable and keep people from dying from (opioid) overdose," McCamley said. "The feds need to let states do this on their own."
Jason Gibbs may be reached at 575-541-5451 or jgibbs@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter@fjgwriter.
If you go
What: 2016 Southern New Mexico Medical Cannabis Expo
When: Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25
Where: Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor Blvd.
Entrance fee: $20 each day for non-patients, $10 each day with card for medical cannabis patients. On-site doctor fees range from $150 to $300.
Info: nmcannaexpo@gmail.com or visit 2016 Southern New Mexico Medical Cannabis Expo on Facebook
Qualifying conditions for the Medical Cannabis Program
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
- Cancer
- Crohn's Disease
- Epilepsy
- Glaucoma
- Hepatitis C Infection currently receiving antiviral treatment
- HIV/AIDS
- Huntington's Disease o Hospice Care
- Inclusion Body Myositis
- Intractable Nausea/Vomiting
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord
- Painful Peripheral Neuropathy
- Parkinson's disease
- Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Severe Chronic Pain
- Severe Anorexia/Cachexia
- Spasmodic Torticollis (Cervical Dystonia)
- Ulcerative Colitis
- Inflammatory autoimmune‐mediated arthritis
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical Cannabis Expo Highlights Potential
Author: Jason Gibbs
Contact: (575) 541-5400
Photo Credit: Jett Loe
Website: Las Cruces Sun-News
