Public Hearing December 2, 2010

The New Mexico Department of Health will hold a public hearing on 7.34.2 NMAC â??Advisory Board Responsibilities & Dutiesâ?�; 7.34.3 NMAC â??Registration Identification Cardsâ?� and 7.34.4 NMAC â??Licensing Requirements For Producers, Production Facilities and Distributionâ?�. The Hearing will be held on Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. in the Harold Runnels Building Auditorium, located at 1190 St. Francis Drive, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Medical Cannabis Program - Infectious Disease Bureau

Above link to review proposed changes.

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Does anyone know the fees and renewal fees for licensed producers in other states? Proposed fees for New Mexico are:

$1000 application
$5000 1 year renewal
$10,000 more than 1 year
$20,000 more than 2 years
$30,000 more than 3 years.

Any thoughts on this?

I looked it over, No good for us!

Wow.. I didn't think it would start this early. They hit the ground running.

One change that is good.. They say that a producer can obtain usable cannabis from another licensed producer. That is new.

Prop 19 failed due to things like this. Some kind of fee is going to be applied. But what is fair?

Suppose a producer only wants to grow and not dispense. They sell their usable cannabis to another producer to dispense. Both will be charged the same 30,000 fee even though one will make more money.

If a business sells for cost and makes little $$'s by choice of the owner, that producer is subjected to the same high fee.

I would like to compare fees in various states. How much are the fees and taxes on alcohol? What does the DOH really need to conduct business?

I looked over it as well. $30,000 a year!? Who writes this stuff? How much is it gonna take to run this program?

The governor elect can't simply rewrite the laws passed, but it's quite clear that her intention is to cripple the program. Making the program a talking point during the campaign didn't rally the patients or producers to start lobbying.

I suspected this type of move might be coming. Control of the budget is nearly as effective as controlling the law

I had suggested that:

application fee be raised to cover the expenses of processing application.

renewal fees needed to be based on amount of product actually distributed, not a flat fee based on the assumed ability to be master producers with a zero mistake level.

The program needs inspectors and administrators, but the harm program budget is laughably small.

It's obvious that the new administration isn't too concerned about a few thousand suffering people by proposing these new producer fees.

It's going to be interesting to see what other steps are taken.

I suspect it's going to take many months to get a patient card, a year or more to get a producer license and producers that make significant noise will be the subject of expensive "mold inspections" on a regular basis.

People seem have forgotten that the economy is in the tank, and revenue from new sources can only help, especially when the black market is reaping tremendous profits from cannabis.

Even millions of dollars pumped into lobbying for Ca's prop 19 didn't turn the tide.

When hyperinflation hits within the next few years, the states will be cutting services while members of congress enjoy fat pensions super health care and other government perks.

We can only hope our next president recognizes what trouble we're really in and does something about it.