Coalition Looks For Help With Border Seizures

Published April 4th, 2024 at 11:55 am, Last Updated April 4th, 2024 at 12:23 pm

In recent months, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been seizing legal cannabis products as they are transported through  federal border checkpoints located within the state. Now a coalition of New Mexico cannabis businesses is asking state leaders for help.

The Paper. reported last week that the CBP had seized products from at least four companies, even though the companies were within their state-legal rights to transport the products. But a number of interior border checkpoints—some located over 70 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border—are under federal jurisdiction and the CBP says it’s policy is to enforce federal drug laws for vehicles passing through them.

Even more companies since then have stepped forward with reports of seizure woes. As details about the issue become clearer, the coalition of businesses is calling on the state’s congressional delegates to find a solution.

Matt Kennicott, CEO and co-founder of cannabis industry association The Plug, says the coalition is working on a letter to send to New Mexico’s congressional delegation, asking for help with the seizures. He says the coalition also plans to organize a petition in the near future.

According to a number of industry workers, Border Patrol agents have rarely hassled them as they pass through the checkpoints with legal, Biotrack-manifested cannabis and the proper paperwork to account for it. The recent uptick in seizures in a relatively small time frame has raised questions about why the agency appears to have changed its enforcement approach.

The CBP says its policy has been the same since before New Mexico legalized cannabis and it hasn’t changed recently. 

“Although legal for medical and/or recreational use in many states, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law,” wrote a CBP representative in an email to The Paper. “Therefore, U.S. Border Patrol agents will continue to take appropriate enforcement action against those who are encountered in possession of marijuana anywhere in the United States.”

The coalition says the seizures affect thousands of industry jobs and keep tax dollars from the state.

“It’s just allowing theft from the state’s coffers,” says Kai Kirk, partner at Head Space Alchemy, one of the businesses that has suffered a recent product seizure by Border Patrol agents. “These are just tax revenues that will never happen. Right now it’s only tens of thousands of dollars, but before long, we’ll be reaching the hundreds of thousands. If we keep letting this go, we’re going to lose millions of dollars.”

Kirk also points out that the industry employs thousands of people directly and indirectly. 

“You have small operators, that if they have $6,000 or $7,000 stolen from them, that could be their last straw,” he says. “You know, this could put people out of business, there is no insurance to cover this.”

With the state’s Cannabis Control Division’s current prioritization of regulation enforcement, now is not the best time for a producer to suddenly come up short on product with no documentation that it was seized by the Border Patrol.

Businesses have noted that this doesn’t seem to be a serious issue in other states that have interior border checkpoints and have legalized cannabis.

“We’re too far into so many states having legal cannabis programs for this to continue to be an issue,” says Ben Lewinger, Executive Director at the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce. “It doesn’t seem to present any issue in California or Arizona—which are two other states that have legal cannabis programs and border Mexico. So it seems to be something that is only happening in New Mexico.”

The last dust-up between CBP and state-licensed operators appears to have been in 2020, when checkpoint Border Patrol agents reportedly seized products worth millions from businesses.

The story is painfully familiar. State-licensed marijuana operators were met with various responses from CBP agents at checkpoints—from being allowed through with no problem to having their products seized.

It’s unclear how or if the problem was solved.

“I think that the state of California has just put enough pressure on the federal government,” says Kirk. “It’s not like the federal government said, ‘Let’s treat California differently.’ It’s that those states spoke up and pushed back, and said, ‘This is not going to happen here.’”

Lewinger says the coalition is working to find a solution that will take the problem to the highest authorities.

“We’re working through formal channels, through our congressional representatives, through the attorney general’s office,” says Lewinger, “to push this issue at the federal level.” Lewinger says the Cannabis Chamber of Commerce has heard from at least one member of the state’s congressional delegation who has shown concern for the issue.

“This is still an indication of how the legal, regulated, safe cannabis industry has to continue to unnecessarily fight for rights that any other industry would take for granted,” says Lewinger. “It reflects just how much the federal government needs to decriminalize and legalize cannabis.”

Lewinger says the problem may require attention from the Biden administration before it goes away. 

“I would imagine that the White House needs to intervene to make sure that what seems like a few bad players who are trying to get a historical bust need to really just pay attention to what their role is with the agency that they work for,” he says.

Lewinger is calling for any businesses that have suffered seizures at the interior checkpoints to come forward and report the details of the incident with the Cannabis Chamber of Commerce by emailing him at ben@nmcannabischamber.org.