New Mexico’s cannabis regulators are stepping up enforcement actions and holding bad players accountable. Officials say they’ve revoked the licenses of two cannabis producers and are considering penalizing a handful of others.
Last week the New Mexico’s Cannabis Control Division (CCD), which is under the state’s Regulation and Licensing Department (RLD), announced it had revoked the licenses of two Torrance County marijuana producers: Bliss Farm and Native American Agricultural Development Company. According to authorities, these are the fifth and sixth revocations ordered by the division.
“The illicit activity conducted at both of these farms undermines the good work that many cannabis businesses are doing across the state,” said Clay Bailey, Acting Superintendent of the RLD, in a news release. “The excessive amount of illegal cannabis plants and other serious violations demonstrates a blatant disregard for public health and safety, and for the law.”
According to authorities, CCD compliance officers found a total of 17 violations at Bliss Farm while inspecting the producer. Included in these infractions was the production of cannabis plants “far exceeding” the allowable number under the state’s Cannabis Regulation Act (CRA), failure to utilize the state’s mandatory track and trace system, unpermitted structures, lack of scales for proper product measurements, lack of a pest management plan and unsanitary conditions. The producer was also accused of having no training materials onsite for employees and no food handler’s cards.
Compliance officers reported the number of plants onsite and evidence of a recent harvest indicated that the producer had come into possession of the plants through illicit means.
The CCD filed a “notice of contemplated action” against Bliss Farm in August. During an October hearing, the producer’s attorney claimed the violations had been fixed, but further investigations from authorities allegedly revealed no evidence that steps had been taken to remedy the situation.
Compliance officers said they found eight violations at Native American Agricultural Development Company (NAADC), including exceeding the allowable number of cannabis plants, improper security measures, no chain of custody procedures and “ill-maintained grounds with trash and pests throughout.”
As with Bliss Farm, compliance officers reported finding evidence of a recent harvest with no sign that the producer had entered the plants into the state’s track and trace system.
The producer was given an opportunity to explain the violations during an October hearing, where a hearing officer decided to revoke NAADC’s license and impose a fine.
“Compliance within the industry is the CCD’s main priority and our office is committed to ensuring New Mexicans have access to safe cannabis products,” said CCD Director Todd Stevens in a statement. “The team worked diligently on both of these cases to determine the appropriate action for violations at a scale we hadn’t seen before. I hope this serves as a reminder to those who might be violating the laws and rules the state has put forth.”
Stevens has said that compliance is his number one priority.
Last week, the CCD filed a Notice of Contemplated Action against Santa Fe-based manufacturer High 5 Edibles, accusing the company of employing a minor under the age of 21 and failing to provide relevant documentation of the employees’ age. The CCD says High 5 Edibles tried to cover up the violation by providing the documentation of a separate person above the age of 21 and suggesting that they were the one working at the site.
In November, the CCD filed a Notice of Contemplated Action against Golden Roots for allegedly continuing to operate a full 10 days after having its license revoked. The company lost its license the previous month after CCD staffers found evidence that the business was selling illicit products.
The division was tipped off when the company requested to enter mature, harvested, dried cannabis plants into their track and trace system after only being licensed for two months. It can take up to six months for a cannabis plant to mature and up to two additional months to harvest and dry it.
In an email to The Paper., Stevens says that the division will continue enforcing the state’s marijuana rules.
“The Cannabis Control Division performed over 1,000 inspections last year and is continuing to perform random inspections and follow up on complaints,” he says. “We remain committed to doing what is necessary in the interest of protecting the public from potentially unsafe products and respecting the work our rule-abiding licensees are doing by holding those who violate the Cannabis Regulation Act accountable.”
In October, the RLD called on New Mexico’s lawmakers to give the division the authority to confiscate marijuana from producers that the state has reason to believe could be illicit. During a Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee meeting, former RLD Superintendent Linda Trujillo asked lawmakers, “Even if we did have the authority to confiscate them, what would we do with it?”
New Mexico State Police Chief W. Troy Weisler told the committee that cannabis businesses that sell illicit products face little if any threat of criminal prosecution under current state laws and asked that explicit penalties be added to the state’s Cannabis Regulation Act (CRA).
State Sen. Katy Duhigg tells The Paper. that she is currently working on a bill that will be introduced this legislative session that will address these issues. She says the bill will fix it so that regulators can confiscate illicit materials during an investigation and destroy those materials based on a court order if they’re found to be illegal.
The bill will also increase penalties for selling illicit products or trafficking out-of-state marijuana as a way to punish bad actors for breaking the rules while discouraging others from attempting it in the first place.