Recreational marijuana legalization in New Mexico set for push

New Mexico would use proceeds from recreational marijuana to provide low-interest loans to small cannabis businesses and eliminate taxes on medical cannabis under a legalization proposal from an expert panel appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Details weren’t immediately available Wednesday, but the task force earlier had recommended licensing private businesses rather than implementing a state-run store model that had been featured in a legislative compromise earlier this year.

The recommendations from a 23-member bipartisan task force sets the stage for a new push to authorize the recreational use and sale of marijuana when the state Legislature convenes in January 2020.

That bipartisan legalization legislation stalled in the state Senate, spurring Grisham, a Democrat, to form the cannabis task force.

Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis led efforts to outline a new regulatory framework that would not allow local governments to prohibit marijuana sales.

– Associated Press and Marijuana Business Daily