New Mexico medical cannabis regulators recently issued announcements on the addition of qualifying conditions to the state’s program and a new proposal for plant count limits on licensed producers.
Late last week, the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH), which oversees the state’s medical cannabis program, announced that six new conditions that qualify for medical cannabis would be added. The bulletin singled out opioid use disorder, while other conditions include Alzheimer’s disease and autism spectrum disorder. New Mexico’s medical cannabis program counted over 70,000 patients on its rolls as of the end of Q1 2019, according to NMDOH. More qualifying conditions could spur continued growth in the state’s patient count and increase demand for product.
This week, NMDOH published a separate bulletin, which provides details of proposed rule changes for the state’s medical cannabis program. Among the rule changes is a proposal for a new plant count limit of 1,750 per Licensed Non-Profit Producer (LNPP). LNPPs were previously restricted to growing only 450 plants at any one time. However, an emergency rule issued by NMDOH in March of this year raised the production cap to 2,500 plants.
If the newly proposed rule on plant count limits is adopted in its current form, many of the state’s 34 LNPPs would see their production capacity reduced after it was recently expanded. However, the proposed rule includes a provision that would allow LNPPs to request an increase to their plant count limit beginning in June 2021. Seedlings – which, according to NMDOH, are, “young plant(s) that do not have any psychoactive properties yet” – would not count against an LNPPs plant count limit under the new rule.
A public hearing on the proposed regulations will be held on July 12th in Santa Fe.