A New Mexico state judge ruled on Thursday that medical cannabis patients cannot purchase the same amount as non-patients when recreational-use sales begin. Second Judicial District Court Judge Benjamin Chavez, in his written ruling, dismissed a claim from a medical cannabis patient that medical cannabis patients should be afforded the same purchase limits as what is laid out in the state’s Cannabis Regulation Act, which went into effect in June. “Petitioner has failed to establish that he, as well as qualified patients, qualified caregivers, and reciprocal patients, have a clear legal right to purchase an additional two ounces of medical cannabis, tax-free, at this time, under the Cannabis Regulation Act,” Chavez wrote. Prior to the Cannabis Regulation Act, the only way to legally possess cannabis in New Mexico was to be a medical cannabis patient. The state’s Medical Cannabis Program has long allowed patients to purchase up to 230 units in a rolling 90-day period. A “unit,” a term created by the program, is one gram of cannabis flower or a quarter of a gram of concentrate or extract. That means a medical cannabis patient could buy up to eight ounces of cannabis flower every three months.
Cannabis Law Report, 12/18/2021 18:14:00