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Welcome to a special edition of Leaf Brief! While this newsletter typically arrives the third Monday of each month, we’re sending this one week and one day later to include the latest news from the end of New Mexico’s 2021 legislative session.
In this context, the word “session” brings to mind an era when collective partaking ruled cannabis consumption. These days, and even before the pandemic changed everything, it can feel like more of an individual pursuit.
But now there’s another session to light up about. When legislators failed to adopt cannabis reform legislation in the 60-day session that wrapped Saturday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vowed that she would exercise her power to call lawmakers back into a special session—possibly beginning as soon as March 31.
SFR reported on the turns of the screw at the Roundhouse over the last month. House Bill 12 cleared the lower chamber Feb. 26 on a 39-31 floor vote. Then, it took two committee stops, ending at the Senate Judiciary Committee that happened after 1 am Thursday with a do-pass recommendation. Lawmakers debated about word choice and tax revenue too. But then, it sputtered out, with Senate leaders choosing not to give it a floor vote.
Stay tuned at www.sfreporter.com/cannabis, where we stash all our cannabis coverage in one place.
Scroll down for more regional and national news, and thanks for reading!
From SFR
Nope New Mexico legislative session concludes without adopting cannabis legalization
Language Shift Cannabis reform advocates are deliberate about the wording of proposed legislation
The Size of the Splash Analysts’ estimates for legal cannabis tax revenue range, depending on out-of-state shoppers
Regional News
Not here, either
As officials on the Navajo Nation are still dealing with the fallout and attempted prosecution for massive illegal cannabis cultivation operations last year, reporter Arlyssa Becenti breaks the news for the Navajo Times that one-time congressional candidate Dineh Benally is now involved in grow operations on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Navajo Nation Police Chief Phillip Francisco told both that newspaper and Searchlight New Mexico he has information that Benally has approached other tribes as well. COVID-19 has delayed the Navajo Nation court in setting a hearing in the case against him.
The fight for light
This message is arriving just after Sunshine Week, the annual recognition for journalists to, as SFR Contributing Editor Jeff Proctor writes, “celebrate victories for transparency, grouse about setbacks and launch efforts to intensify the spotlight in shrouded corners.” Proctor opined about a recent decision by the Santa Fe City Council to allow its Community Health and Safety Task Force to meet in secret. The group is supposed to make recommendations about police policies, including transparency and uses of force. For many this signals an erosion of public trust during a time when leaders have vowed to attempt to restore it.
Impact of indoor
Light has a different connotation in this next item: a new study from the University of Colorado about the emissions from indoor cannabis production, including from electricity, heating and environmental controls and other factors. Their results include a map that shows relative emissions anywhere in the country, as defined as emissions per kilogram of cannabis flower. Researchers, who published their study in Nature Sustainability, suggested technological solutions and policy adaptations to lessen the environmental impact of commercial indoor cannabis production too.
In session
The last days of the session were crazy. Here are two other cannabis-related bills:
House Bill 88 - Backed by the state environment department, this bill sought to patch some holes in state oversight of cannabis products by amending the Hemp Regulation Act. But opponents who are part of the agricultural hemp industry asked lawmakers to hit the brakes for input. It was tabled at the House, as Doug Fine writes in a column for Let’s Talk Hemp.
Senate Bill 340 - The measure sponsored by Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino addresses a fight over whether lawmakers intended reciprocity for medical cannabis patients from other states to be able to purchase cannabis in New Mexico. The House Judiciary issued a do-pass but then the measure languished.
Bingo was his name-o
Let it not be said the team at SFR eschews fun. Even though we take the reform of cannabis laws very seriously, we also (almost) made our dreams come true with plans for a digital bingo game during the final days of the session.
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Check out the responses and follow the Reporter on Twitter here so you can play along during the special session.
Medical Cannabis Program
The New Mexico Department of Health reports 108,983 active patients and 7,266 personal production licenses as of its February report.
Around the Nation
Putting their mouths where the money is
Congress is set to again take up the issue of making banking accessible and fair for the cannabis industry. The SAFE Banking Act was reintroduced in the House last week, and national cannabis policy beat reporter Natalie Fertig says today is the day for the Senate version, sponsored by Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, and Steve Daines, R-Montana. National Law Review explains that “together, the bills create a legal safe harbor for providing financial and insurance services to cannabis-related businesses. If passed, these bills will be a game-changer for banks and insurance companies that wish to engage with plant-touching cannabis businesses and the multitudes of ancillary service providers that support the cannabis industry.” Here’s a link to the bill text.
Charting the course
Speaking of cashflow, Reuters Graphics reports that investments in cannabis are up following a surge in sales during the coronavirus pandemic and the spreading legalization. (The annotated charts are great for the TL/DR crowd.) “All told,” Reuters writes, “investors have poured more than $2.5 billion into cannabis tech startups in North America since 2018.”
Not cool
Dozens of young White House staffers have been punished due to past cannabis use, according to a breaking report from The Daily Beast on Friday. The Biden administration suspended workers, asked them to resign or placed them in a remote work program due to their disclosure of past use despite Joe Biden having promised to expand the tolerance in background checks. White House Spokeswoman Jen Psaki disputes the number of affected employees, admitting to just five.
Tommy Vietor, a veteran of the 2008 Obama team who subsequently worked as a National Security Council spokesperson, told The Beast, “I find it absurd that, in 2021, marijuana use is still part of a security clearance background check. To me, marijuana use is completely irrelevant when you’re trying to decide whether an individual should be trusted with national security information.”
POLITICO’s Natalie Fertig and Mona Zhang report that “despite a shift in public opinion toward legalizing marijuana over the past 30 years, the president’s more conservative approach to weed policy is well-known on Capitol Hill.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story gave incorrect information about actions taken against Benally by Pine Ridge leaders. A tribal council committee recommended he be barred from the reservation, but the tribal council did not adopt the measure.