Leaf Brief: Happy Hallo-weed!

We’ve reached the point, dear readers, of cannabis hitting its peak in New Mexico—or at least its plateau. Sales in September leveled off a bit compared to previous months.

And as many expected, the number of cannabis patients in the state has begun to atrophy recently. As is the case with, well, the human body as it ages, there’s lots of speculation as to why. The folks who run the state’s Medical Cannabis Program say it’s because patients have just let their medical cards lapse and haven’t renewed them. We at the Leaf Brief take umbrage at the notion that cannabis users would let anything lapse or delay anything, but we hear it’s happened once or twice. It also could be, the program director says, that medical cannabis cards were given a three-year lifespan just about three years ago and patients have just not gotten around to renewing them. Again, umbrage.

For those not familiar with how the state’s Medical Cannabis Program works, medical cards are free, minus whatever you might have to shell out to a cannabis doc, and relatively easy to come by—though at least one of the 28 qualifying conditions is required. Besides finding relief from some pretty gnarly conditions, patients are afforded the ability to buy stronger products, and they don’t pay taxes on their cannabis purchases. Patients, however, don’t get a tax break on all the other accoutrement dispensaries offer these days.

Did someone say taxes? As in one of the many justifications—besides, you know, making it legal to grow and use a plant—for legalization?

During a recent legislative hearing on alcohol, tobacco and cannabis taxes, lawmakers heard from a national expert who praised New Mexico for its cannabis tax structure. That’s right, the state got some positive attention. We’ll let that sink in.

The Leaf Brief knows how much New Mexicans love rankings lists, but Richard Auxier, with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, stopped short of calling us number one. He did, however, say it was a “pretty smart decision” to hold off assigning cannabis tax money to anything specific, for now. He also said slowly increasing the cannabis tax over a number of years will ensure a steady stream of revenue, even if prices start to drop. That’s right, we said “if.”

Pardon Me?

Last month, we cynically wrote that President Joe Biden would probably not touch federal cannabis legalization before the midterm elections. He still hasn’t, but Biden took steps towards Legalization-ville, or at least showed interest in buying an Amtrak ticket, when he announced federal pardons for those convicted of minor weed charges. Never mind that the number of people doing time in the federal clink for simple pot possession is a drop in the ocean compared to those in county and state lockups. Biden also gave a hearty “You better...” to governors around the country, asking them to take similar action. Luckily, New Mexico already did the cannabis pardon thing. Biden also asked a couple of his cabinet members to take a look at how cannabis is scheduled, that is, whether it should be grouped in with things like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. We’re not saying our cynicism somehow spurred Biden to take action on federal legalization, but at the same time, we bet we won’t get $1 million in donations to support our journalism mission before November. (Prove us wrong?!)

Why Can’t We Have Nice Things?

Apparently weed heads still have to stay indoors when they light up, at least in the state’s three largest cities. Albuquerque and Santa Fe came out of the legalization gates with limitations on cannabis consumption areas—put more plainly, smoking lounges. It seemed like Las Cruces was on its way to become the city least likely to harsh your mellow when Sol Cannabis opened this year with an outdoor smoking patio. We can’t speak for everyone, but it seems like an outdoor patio is a better place to toke up than sequestered indoors with swirls of smoke and whatever else is coming out of the mouths of everyone around you. COVID, anyone? Apparently there was some misunderstanding between Sol and the City of Las Cruces and now smokers are relegated to indoor puffing. C’est la vie.

Word on the street

Do y’all smell that? No, not the autumn chile crop roasting, but the pungent aroma of ripening buds. We’re in what many outdoor growers call Crop-tober. We won’t condescend and explain the name, but much like many other crops, the fall is when those outdoor weed plants are the stickiest and full of those shiny crystals known as trichomes. If you’re in Northern New Mexico, it’s probably time to cut those ladies down (cause if they’re males, well…that’s for another newsletter) and start the drying and curing process.

October is also that one time of year when people get all worked up about the ridiculous notion that other people will use their hard-earned cash to buy edibles and just give them away to all the kids in the neighborhood, in some sort of attempt at terrorizing kids while also not enjoying the adult treats themselves. Are there psychopaths out there who might do something like this? Maybe. But, it takes some serious mental gymnastics to reason it’s a thing to worry that much about. Readers may have seen the memes out there about equally ridiculous things found in Halloween candy like the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but we want to give a shoutout to whoever’s running the Twitter accounts for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and and Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. Someone give those folks a raise.

You may not need to be so vigilant about checking your kids’ plastic pumpkin pail or pillow cases for THC, but you should probably be mindful about where you keep your own gummies, or you know, talk to your kids about your stash. If you’re having trouble sparking that conversation yourself, you’re in luck, because the Cannabinoids have you covered. If rapping anthropomorphic animals is more your jam, here’s a video to remind your kids to check their treats (because anyone with kids knows those little sugar junkies can sniff out sweets better than pigs can find truffles) and for you to lock those gummies up. We’ll likely be enjoying those adult Halloween treats with the lights off and the tried and true honor system bowl of traditional candy on the front porch.