HOUSE MEMORIAL 5

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2018

INTRODUCED BY

Bill McCamley

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO CREATE LAWS THAT PROTECT THE USE OF MEDICINAL CANNABIS IN NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, the use of cannabis for medical purposes has been legal in New Mexico since the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act was passed in 2007; and

     WHEREAS, currently, there are over forty thousand patients in the state who use cannabis for ailments like cancer and military service-related posttraumatic stress disorder; and

     WHEREAS, since the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act was passed, there has been no noticeable negative social consequence of medical cannabis use, while tens of thousands of New Mexicans have positively benefited from it; and

     WHEREAS, since 2013, the United States department of justice has refrained from enforcing federal cannabis laws in states that allow for medicinal and social use as long as users do not break eight specific rules defined in a memo written by United States department of justice then-deputy attorney general James Cole; and

     WHEREAS, in January 2018, United States attorney general Jeff Sessions rescinded the Cole memo and reinstated a policy of imprisoning medicinal cannabis users in New Mexico and twenty-eight other states plus the District of Columbia; and

     WHEREAS, a significant majority of New Mexicans in public surveys have been shown to support medicinal cannabis use;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that tens of thousands of New Mexicans using medicinal cannabis to help them live better lives should not face imprisonment; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a formal request be made to the New Mexico congressional delegation to create new legislation protecting medicinal cannabis users in New Mexico from the threat of being sent to federal prison; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to members of the New Mexico congressional delegation.

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