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New Mexico Senate Approves Cannabis Decriminalization

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[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]A[/dropcap] bill decriminalizing minor cannabis offenses cleared New Mexico’s Senate this week, even as other bills in the state legislature open up possibilities for cannabis legalization in the state.

Senate Bill 323 passed in the Senate by a vote of 30 to 8. The law would be changed to decrease the penalty for up to a half-ounce of cannabis to a $50 fine, charged as a penalty assessment misdemeanor. Additionally, the law would establish a $50 penalty for the possession or use of drug paraphernalia.

The decriminalization would also relieve court workloads from dealing with criminal cannabis charges. “The passage of decriminalization of marijuana in the NM State Senate, by a healthy margin, is good news as it represents bi-partisan support on an issue that was untouchable a few years ago,” Emily Kaltenbach, New Mexico director for the Drug Policy Alliance, told Marijuana Moment in an email. “Despite its benefits, decriminalization falls short in many ways—largely because it still lies in an illegal and underground market that does not diminish the potential harms such as access to youth and unregulated products with unknown potency and quality.”

The bill now is in the hands of the House Judiciary Committee, where House Bill 356 waits to be discussed, and would regulate and legalize cannabis would allow possession of up to two ounces of cannabis and allow home growth of the plant. Another legalization effort, Senate Bill 577, would not allow home cultivation and only allow state-run retail of recreational cannabis. That bill is currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“We came to the conclusion that legalization is coming,” said Sen. Cliff Pirtle, one of the bill’s sponsors. “How can we do it in a way that’s more responsible, so we don’t have the negative social impacts that Colorado and other states have had?”

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