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Medical Marijuana on NM Legislative Agenda
Andrea | The Bill Richardson Blog | 01/19/2005

Wow. Gov. Bill Richardson, after meeting with numerous ill New Mexicans, added the legalization of marijuana for medical uses to his call for the 30-day session about to kick off. The session is extremely full already, but this is a very interesting development. The prospects for the bill are good: last year’s version passed the Senate easily, but stalled in the House due to a personal conflict between representatives over an unrelated zoning issue. Ah, politics!

This is another aggressive move from the Gov, and I think a very good one, not because it’s politically shrewd or not, but because it’s right. Seriously ill people should be able to use marijuana to relieve pain and nausea that often leave them unable to eat properly. If a bill passes, New Mexico would become the 12th state with such a policy after Rhode Island’s bold override of their governor’s veto Jan. 3rd.

Of course, this piecemeal legalization by the states is all operating under the shadow of Gonzales v. Raich: no matter what the states do, using cannabis is illegal, and because it’s a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, it’s illegal to prescribe, even if the patient grows it herself. The federal government’s current “look the other way” stance doesn’t seem tenable in the long term; what needs to happen is that marijuana needs to be moved from Schedule I down to a level where it can be prescribed (it probably fits the criteria for Schedule III best.) Perhaps a Richardson presidential administration could include a DEA willing to do the right thing on this issue.

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TenaciousPlant

With them being right next door to Texas I Hope this passes the most, and sounds like it should in those 30 days or whatever. Finally maybe will have a state connected that has medical marijuana. Good influence should come

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