As Texas Cannabis Collective reported in June, New Mexico passed an amendment changing the language for qualifying patients of the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act. Prior to the amendment, the law read that you had to be a New Mexico resident to qualify. Now to qualify, you just have to be “a person”, and of course, fall under one of their allowed conditions.
An ongoing battle has been going on in court over the last few months regarding this language. A judge ruled that the written language is law, and that the New Mexico Department of Health (“NMDOH”) had to abide by the law by issuing cards to qualifying out-of-state patients. They also had a deadline to respond to why they should not have to issue them, in which they failed to respond. Shortly after the ruling, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham intervened to try and stop the judge’s orders. During this time, out-of-state patients were seeing doctors in New Mexico, getting their doctor’s recommendations and applying to the NMDOH medical cannabis program, but the NMDOH was holding back on issuing cards.At the end of September, the judge upheld his ruling and demanded that the NMDOH must start issuing cards to qualifying out-of-state patients, just short of sanctioning or holding the head of the NMDOH in contempt. This time, the NMDOH listened and started to issue non-residents their cards. I received my medical cannabis card yesterday, October 22, 2019.
The process takes about 35 days. Let me explain the ordeal I went through to get my New Mexico medical cannabis card.
First you must have a condition that qualifies under their condition list. I have two. PTSD and chronic pain in my spine and lower back. I was unable to gather my medical records in time for my appointment to qualify under chronic pain even thought I have do have some which fits the requirements, so I just applied under PTSD. Having your medical records in order will make the process that much easier. Once you are ready, you schedule an appointment with a doctor that does the medical recommendations. In my case, I called Ultra Health in Sunland Park, NM and scheduled an appointment with the doctor they bring in. Ultra Health is the closest dispensary to where I live in El Paso, Texas. Once at the appointment, the doctor asked me to fill out a questionnaire of about 30 questions. All the questions related to mental mindset, as they were evaluating the answers for a PTSD diagnosis with a screening procedure they have. After the questionnaire, they tallied up my answers and then calculated them against assessing documents. According to those numbers the documents provided, determined if you qualified under PTSD and you were given the doctor’s recommendation. If for something other than PTSD, the doctor will evaluate your medical records, and make a decision on those. Once done with the doctor, they give you the paperwork, which included a copy of my Texas ID, and you mail it in.
After speaking with the NMDOH over the last month, I can tell you that they run about 30 days, almost exactly, to review your application and print the card. That’s it. It is that easy IF you meet the requirements for their qualifying conditions; and that is how it should be. Patients should not have to jump through hoops to access their card and medicine.
Any patient, as long as you are a “person” (they do not accept alien lifeforms at this time) with one of the 28 qualifying conditions, can be accepted – New Mexico resident or not.
One thing you do have to watch out for though… in the application and paperwork, you have to sign and initial statements like “I certify I am a New Mexico resident blah, blah, blah….”. Well, since I am not a New Mexico resident, I crossed all those sections out and added “Texas” to the sentence. I am sure applications are rejected if you agree to a statement like that not being a New Mexico resident. I worked in the legal field for 11 years, so little things like that stand out in my mind when I come across them. That would be grounds for rejection.
Last, I would like to point out a couple important things. Cannabis is still illegal in Texas, regardless if you have a medical card or not. A misdemeanor for personal possession amounts of flower (up to 4 ounces), but a felony for vape pens, edibles, or any time the THC comes off or is separated from the plant like it is with concentrates regardless of the amount. Bringing cannabis from New Mexico to Texas is also considered trafficking, medical card or not. Please know your rights and the law. We do not need arrests in El Paso, and other parts of Texas, to skyrocket because people attempting to bring back cannabis from New Mexico since they are card holding patients. This would actually be counterproductive to our fight. Be smart. I plan on making my first legal purchase as a New Mexico cannabis patient in the next few days thus making me a patient in New Mexico and a criminal in Texas.
Stay safe!