New Mexico panel set to advise governor on adult-use marijuana legalization

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New Mexico cannabis business stakeholders and others will provide input via a new committee for a recreational marijuana legalization measure set for introduction in the state’s Legislature in 2020.

The panel, which will make legislative recommendations to the governor, comes after a bipartisan legalization bill stalled without a vote in the state Senate in March.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who created the committee, signaled her intention to revive legalization legislation next year.

“This group will ensure we begin the next session with a credible, equitable and cohesive legalization proposal,” Grisham said of the new committee in a statement.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, the Cannabis Legalization Working Group will include at least 19 state lawmakers, cabinet secretaries, law enforcement officials and medical marijuana executives

The panel will work through the summer and fall. Its mission, among other things, is to identify best practices from other states and jurisdictions that have legalized adult-use cannabis sales.

One priority: If the sale of recreational cannabis is approved, it “does not infringe on or harm our expanding medical cannabis program,” according to the governor.