Legal recreational cannabis sales begin in New Mexico this week, and two tribal communities are ready to jump into the industry. The Pueblos of Picuris and Pojoaque signed an intergovernmental agreement with New Mexico that allows them to regulate their own marijuana enterprises operating within their communities and apply for state licenses for any business they would conduct outside tribal lands. Cannabis is still an illegal substance under federal law, , and federal law enforcement operates on tribal lands. So two Obama-era directives for how the Department of Justice prioritizes prosecuting marijuana-related crimes are, “very important,” for allowing the Pueblos to enter the market, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in an interview. “Our intergovernmental agreements create the kind of transparency and give direct knowledge to the feds that we intend to protect our sovereign nations, that they are actively engaged in our medical and recreational cannabis programs, that these are their rights under those agreements,” Lujan Grisham said. Pojoaque and Picuris are two of the 23 tribal nations in New Mexico and the only ones who have publicly pursued regulating cannabis sales and production.
Mmp News Author, Medical Marijuana Program Connection, 03/28/2022 08:51:00