cannabisnews.com: New Mexico Proposes Fees To Fund Cannabis Program
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New Mexico Proposes Fees To Fund Cannabis Program
Posted by CN Staff on August 31, 2010 at 13:06:03 PT
By Sue Major Holmes, Associated Press
Source: Associated Press
Albuquerque, N.M. -- New Mexico is proposing an increase in fees on medical marijuana producers to help fund administration of the state's program. The New Mexico Department of Health, which operates the program, wants to increase the application fee on would-be producers from the current $100 to $1,000 and establish a new annual fee on the licensed nonprofits that grow medical marijuana.That fee would be equal to 7 percent of a producer's total annual gross receipts. Preliminary figures estimate each producer could generate $300,000 to $400,000 in gross revenues a year, said Health Department spokeswoman Deborah Busemeyer.
The fees will help the program be financially self-sufficient, Busemeyer said. Up to now, it's been funded from other Health Department programs.The agency plans a Sept. 30 hearing in Santa Fe on the proposed revisions to the regulations governing the program.Other proposed changes include testing samples of producers' medical cannabis for contaminants such as mold or bacteria "to make sure we have a safe product for our patients," Busemeyer said.Another revision would keep confidential the names of medical practitioners who certify patients."Some practitioners are reluctant to certify patients' eligibility due to concerns over federal law" under which marijuana remains illegal, Busemeyer said.Keeping their names confidential would protect "the integrity of the program and the safety and security of those practitioners who refer patients to the program," she said.New Mexico doctors do not prescribe medical cannabis. Rather, they certify someone has one of 16 approved conditions and standard treatment doesn't work. Patients then apply to the program. Approved patients receive a registry ID card that allows possession of up to six ounces of medical marijuana.The Health Department spent more than a year crafting regulations for a state-licensed system of nonprofit growers after the state passed its medical marijuana law in 2007. Now, the agency is proposing open and closed enrollment periods for considering new producers.Busemeyer said nearly 50 applications are pending, and allowing new ones only at certain times would let staff focus on priorities and would speed up the process "so no one is waiting too long to hear back from us."The Health Department licensed its first grower in March 2009. New Mexico now has 11, including six approved in July.Prospective growers undergo painstaking screening. Each producer is limited to 95 plants and seedlings and an inventory restricted to current qualified patient needs.Revisions also would clarify that producers and patients may possess marijuana seeds. Patients licensed to produce for themselves could obtain no more than 16 seeds from a nonprofit producer in a three-month period.The state has 2,250 active medical cannabis patients — 1,022 who are licensed to grow their own supply.Source: Associated Press (Wire)Author: Sue Major Holmes, Associated PressPublished: August 31, 2010Copyright: 2010 The Associated PressCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by Storm Crow on September 01, 2010 at 12:37:39 PT
Wow! Cool!
The more folks we educate, the better! That improves my mood a bit! lol
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Comment #9 posted by Sam Adams on September 01, 2010 at 12:26:23 PT
seems terrible
they saw their neighbor to the north (CO) so the political class folks couldn't help themselves from reaching into the till.Seven percent! I think they have no business taking that kind of tax unless it's legal for all. Our govt. seems bound & determined to keep taking until there's no economy left.
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Comment #8 posted by ekim on September 01, 2010 at 10:17:58 PT
Storm Crow did you see the first comment
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-09-01/business-medical-marijuana#comments
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Comment #7 posted by Storm Crow on September 01, 2010 at 09:19:23 PT
Just one little question........
What other group of sick people is discriminated against this way? It IS the ill who will ultimately pay the fee that the medical marijuana producers will pay! We all know that the producers will just pass the fee along to their customers to pay. Nothing like taxing the hell out of the sick and dying- it's the American way! I think I better go medicate. I have a "bad taste" in my brain.
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Comment #6 posted by runruff on September 01, 2010 at 05:15:22 PT
The feds are stone-walling!
I destroyed the whole premise of the CSA in a federal court when I won my argument.Besides being a bogus document and an illegal law, the feds have let their own CSA rules expire without revision.I believe this is the reason they have not confirmed "Bulldog" Leonhart, the reason the VA have relented and so on. The want to make it look like their idea and decision to change. I have talked to legal minds since my court appearance and they told me what I already believed, that the feds, having lost the WoD so decisively will try to make it go away imperceivably, bit by bit, until our brain dead populace will be living in a completely different political environment. Around the water coolers at work they will discuss the lack of activity in the WoD without understanding why. I believe the US is destined to break up into smaller country-states with each having autonomy. The FEDs have ruined America by selling our souls to the industrial poluters and Pentagon war mongers.With so much hatred and division in this country it is destined to fall! G. W. Bush has all so much as set the downfall of the USA in motion. Not just the great division between the have and have nots but with unwanted unproductive wars. Do not forget, the next generation will one day be in charge and may not like the mess we have left them. They will see a better way for them. All we need do then is look back to see forward. As history has done history will do. "As a man has done a man will do"!-old Jewish adage.
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Comment #5 posted by Paul Pot on August 31, 2010 at 22:59:09 PT:
tax and fees
I believe there is a basic problem with taxing the legal herb, when it's finally legal. But that stems from a greater issue that there is a serious need for tax reform. Goods, services and land should never be taxed. It is very difficult and inefficient to calculate and discriminatory in policing. Remember the 1937 Marijuana tax act. Therefore and obviously what should be taxed is money and only money. By taking just a small percentage from a bank account, only 3% of a withdrawal when the withdrawal is made and putting it in the government tax account. Small income earners pay less and the big money movers would have to start paying there fair share of the tax. And no one has to sit down and work their taxes out any more or get in trouble for not having paid taxes. It's all automatically done by the same computer that charges the bank fees you're already paying. And I believe this tax was actually used in California in the 1800's.
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Comment #4 posted by Paint with light on August 31, 2010 at 22:16:16 PT
volume
Instead of trying to make so much off of each individual producer they should have a basic easy to understand application system much like a drivers license, available at low cost.Of course we are dealing with a toxic, addictive, violence causing evil plant here.........or so the prohibs talking points tell me.A small fee, lots of people, and a small staff to administrate it would produce more money, more fairly, into the states treasury.At the same time, they need to open up industrial applications and tax it a small amount per ton, and treat recreational just like alcohol, or at least like proposition 19 does.So much depends on the success of prop 19.If prop 19 does fail I believe we will see a greater push to change the federal laws and also get cannabis re scheduled.This proposal in the article is so unfair it is difficult to think of it as progress.They should have the concerns of the patients as their priority more than control and money.We just aren't there yet.......but we are so much closer than we have been.Legal like alcohol would work for now.
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on August 31, 2010 at 16:58:46 PT
There should be clinics
in New Mexico for hospitalization and live in treatment situations...with cannabis and cannabinoids. For people where all else has failed... at least! There needs to be scientists, doctors, nurses, dietitians, physical therapists, lab technicians, and close contact with knowledgeable, experienced growers.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on August 31, 2010 at 16:47:55 PT
The GCW
People that have been pushing to get more money out of taxes on cannabis are the reason this is happening in my opinion. The black market will never go away if the taxes are high.
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on August 31, 2010 at 16:12:29 PT
$100 to $1,000
A back alley mugger might harm you less.
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