The New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department (RLD), Cannabis Control Division (CCD), will hold a public rule hearing on August 31, 2023, at 9:00am. The rule hearing will be held at the Rio Grande Conference Room in the Toney Anaya State Office Building located at 2550 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Individuals wishing to participate and offer comment on the proposed rules will appear in-person at the hearing location. A PDF of the proposed rule and meeting details may be accessed through the Cannabis Control Division website: https://www.rld.nm.gov/cannabis/ or from Victoria Kaniatobe at the contact information listed below.
The hearing will be live-streamed via Internet-based video and via telephone for those wishing to observe the hearing. Public comment will not be accepted for those observing via the live stream or phone. Join here.
The purpose of the public rule hearing is to receive public commentary regarding the proposals for amendments to rules related to licensing requirements and complaint procedures.
Legal authority for this rulemaking may be found the Cannabis Regulation Act, Section 26-2C-1 through Section 26-2C-42 NMSA 1978 (2021). Additional authority may be found at Section 9-16-6 NMSA 1978 (2021).
The Division will begin accepting public comment on the proposed rules beginning July 31, 2023. Please submit written comments on the proposed rules to Robert Sachs, Division Counsel for the Cannabis Control Division, via electronic mail at ccd.publiccomment@state.nm.us. Written comment may also be submitted by visiting the Division website at https://www.rld.nm.gov/cannabis/ or by mailing the comment to the following address:
Cannabis Control Division Public Comment
c/o Robert Sachs
P.O. Box 25101 Santa Fe, NM 87504
All public comments must be received by the close of the public rule hearing on August 31, 2023. Persons will also be given the opportunity to present their comments at the rule hearing. Comments received prior to the rule hearing will be posted to the RLD website at: https://www.rld.nm.gov/cannabis/.
No later than July 31, 2023, interested parties may obtain and review copies of the proposed rules and public comments by going to the Cannabis Control Division website at https://www.rld.nm.gov/cannabis/ or by contacting the Cannabis Control Division at RLD.CannabisControl@rld.nm.gov or (505) 476-4995.
Any individual with a disability who is in need of a reader, amplifier, qualified sign language interpreter, or other form of auxiliary aid or service to attend or participate in the hearing should contact Victoria Kaniatobe, Legal Clerk for the Cannabis Control Division at Victoria.Kaniatobe2@rld.nm.gov or (505) 476-4577 at least seven (7) days prior to the hearing.
Summary of Proposed Amended Rules
16.8.2 NMAC: LICENSING AND OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR CANNABIS ESTABLISHMENTS
Part 2 provides the requirements necessary for issuance of a license under the Cannabis Regulation Act. Part 2 also governs the licensing and operational requirements for licenses. Amendments to this part will strike conditional licenses and variances to licenses. Additional amendments will change the requirements for the issuance and renewal of a license. Some of these changes include but are not limited to, adding that inspections will be required prior to the issuance of a license as well as requiring the completion of training courses prior to the issuance of a license.
Public comment submitted by Erica Rowland of Farm Flourish on August 31 at 9:33am.
Aug 31, Doc 1
The language contained in proposed rules 16.8.2.8 (Z.) and (AA.) gives the director of the division or the division discretion in requiring inspections and education before licensure. The language should change from “may” to “shall” which would mandate the division or the division director to require inspections and education before licensure.
To Law makers and decision holders,
My name is Joaquin Munoz. We are a Micro farm in the Southern NM area. My family is a humble family, my father is a construction worker by trade and my mother has worked for the state for years. Though, we are well off, we have never made enough to be doing amazingly or could be considered “rich.” My fathers passion is farming and has always enjoyed the work. With legalization of cannabis he has been able to realize his dream of growing the plant, something he has dreamed about his whole life. With the micro program he was able to realize that dream and chase the opportunity to make enough to pay off his mortgage and live a docile life. With regulation changing to making micros completely closed and unable to process or distribute to outside businesses, this dream is quickly being ripped away from him, opportunities are being destroyed right before our eyes. With the first year of legalization leading to more heartache than opportunity with partners putting selfishness before improvement we have been put in situations that impede our ability to develop. We have not had the opportunity to build the infrastructure needed to be able to stay in business. With micros needing to be fully integrated to stay in business and us not having nearly enough to make that happen, we are losing the dream before we can even make turnover.
I am asking for all to reconsider and amend the law so that small guys who are just trying to make enough to stay afloat have the chance to produce and move forward. We don’t have enough to make an extraction point, we don’t have enough to build a dispensary, we barely have enough to pay our mortgage on the family home. With the regulations making micros completely closed we will never have the chance to make enough to build a business for my family to strive or even be sufficient. I’m calling on legislation to make the amendment with the small guys in mind. Any other stipulations and changes can be made but I ask to please not close the opportunity to collaborate and make opportunity with members of out community. Please not shut us out from being able to make something to get by, and please don’t let us fall to corporate heads who want to drain New Mexicans out of their beauty and infrastructure. We as a business are not trying to be billionaires, we aren’t trying to corner the market or be the largest distributor. We are just trying to make enough so my father can retire and we can live peacefully on the land our family built.
I thank you for your consideration, I hope we will be considered when making a final call,
-Joaquin Munoz La Perla del Valle Pharms
The state needs to enforce rules and regulations for those cannabis businesses who are not paying taxes, gross receipts and cannabis excise taxes. There is a lot of over-regulation for the smallest things in the industry but then you have multiple retail dispensaries in the state, even owners who are from outside of the state profiting from our communities, and they are not paying taxes to New Mexico. Paid taxes needs to be a requirement and considered for license renewals.
I am in opposition to any limitation of future licenses in the cannabis program. Licenses should be available to any qualified applicant in keeping with the program from day one. There should be a “level playing field” just like in any other industry. Preventing others from entering the program will stifle the industry as a whole. Alcohol licensing followed a similar track and today the only licenses available are onerously expensive and available only from private parties. Let’s not repeat this in the cannabis industry. A free market is the only fair way to govern this industry. The cannabis program should parallel other industries where there are successes and failures.
Hello and thank you for the platform to speak.
I just wanted to say I am a license holder and I strongly disagree with a license pause. This state has made history for the little guys by keeping it affordable and open to a local economy.
Thank you
I would like to say that I believe that a stronger Track and Trace system would save the New Mexico Cannabis community. It would help with Saturation and keep Out of State cannabis from coming in.
That responsibility should be the CCDs. The system you’ve used is clearly faulty if people can sell out of state cannabis.
Secondary LABS! If the state can subsidize labs or find a way to support funding we would have safer cannabis (medicine), less saturation and better quality cannabis. No more talk about race to the bottom!
I believe the original bill had better testing and was pulled out at the last minute. SMH! I’m in Southern New Mexico and we don’t even have a lab down here.
Maybe require a big money company to put in a lab before doing building?
I’m hoping this is some insight.
I moved back to my home state for this. Im so proud of the affordable pricing which is some form of Social Equity. ( Which formally we are lacking) We are making history for the small farmers and local economies.
Please do consider these opinions.
I am a second generation cultivator coming home from Northern Ca. The Emerald Triangle. More test should never scare a good cultivator.
Race up! 🙏🏽
To whom it may concern,
I’m the head of cultivation for Mama and the Girls. We’re a small macro farm & dispensary located near Estancia and Albuquerque.
While the proposed regulations may seem to present reasonable checks on licensing, they will only hurt small businesses & make it harder for small farms & dispensaries like ours to compete against the larger businesses with deeper pockets.
In my opinion, the New Mexico market would do best by capping licenses – but only for MSOs & others who live out of state. We’ve had a flood of investment here, which is great, but that is now coming at the expense of New Mexico businesses growing, expanding, and thriving in the cannabis industry.
If you want to impose these new encumbrances, put them on business that have 3+ dispensaries or high plant counts. Anything to help the smaller, local businesses compete against MSOs and other entrenched interests.
Greetings,
Zebulun Clary, owner/operator of a micro grow— The Fiddler’s Greens— in Lincoln County outside of the boundaries of a municipality. How will 16.8.2 NMAC BB. address rural parts of the state that may not require a business to have a license? Will the CCD accept articles of organization or LLC as acceptable compliance for renewal?
https://www.lincolncountynm.gov/how_do_i/index.php#collapse2260b6
Public Comment Submission Photo
Please find the attached comments on behalf of OCC ABQ, LLC pertaining to the 8/31/23 hearing regarding proposed revisions to NMAC 16.8.2
CCD Public Comment 8.31.23