Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has successfully requested a motion to intervene in a pending lawsuit which challenges the New Mexico health department’s position on assigning medical cannabis cards to out-of-state residents.
The basis for this motion filed in the past few days argues that the lawsuit attends to issues such as the possible interstate transportation of marijuana – which the governor believes will exceed the scope of Kenny Vigil, the state medical cannabis program’s director.
“He lacks the authority to address law enforcement concerns, approve regulatory action or direct health care policy for our state,” the court motion says. “Thus, the significant public policy considerations … at issue cannot be fully addressed by the current parties to this litigation and could be substantially affected or impaired.”
This follows from our previous reporting that the law was being changed, lawsuits may ensue and that in a statement to NM Political Report, the New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) clarified that “Persons who are not residents of New Mexico cannot be enrolled in the NM Medical Cannabis Program.”
One of the plaintiffs in the case is Duke Rodriguez, an Arizona resident who is president and CEO of Ultra Health LLC and a prominent licensed medical marijuana producer. In June, before the change to the state’s cannabis laws went into effect, Ultra Health bought radio ad space in southeastern New Mexico to notify listeners that the state had changed its law and would allow non-residents the chance to become a medical cannabis patient. When “effectively” denied, Rodriguez filed an emergency petition through his lawyer Brian Egolf, an attorney for medical cannabis producer Ultra Health. Egolf is also the New Mexico Speaker of the House. Ultra Health’s president and CEO Duke Rodriguez previously told NM Political Report that the wording was clear and unambiguous. DOH disagreed with Rodriguez’s reading.
Initially in the case this past week, state District Judge Bryan Biedscheid sided with those filing the court challenge and gave the Health Department until later in August to prove why the ruling should not be made permanent. The plaintiffs did not oppose the motion by Grisham and allowed a one week extension for the state to respond.
“Although we believe the governor has the right to intervene on broader views on public policy, we still contend the plain language of the law is clear and this plain language will be tough to overrule,” Rodriguez said.
The residence dispute is focused on a new law signed by Grisham that changed the definition of qualified patient by removing a requirement that an enrolled or enrolling member of the medical cannabis program be a New Mexico resident. The DOH has maintained that the change was aimed at providing reciprocity to residents of other states with valid medical marijuana cards and only that issue.
Egolf has also argued against a previous explanation from DOH that the change from “resident of New Mexico” to “person” referenced allowing reciprocity with other medical cannabis states.
“It is important that there are two different definitions for ‘qualified patient’ and ‘reciprocal participant,’” Egolf wrote. “That is, if there are two different terms, they must mean different things.”
Health Department officials have stated that the intention of the change was not to allow non-New Mexico residents to obtain medical marijuana cards, putting forward that such a shift would encourage the transport of cannabis across state lines, in violation of both federal and state laws. DOH argued that Rodriguez’s reading of the law would imply that the state approved of patients crossing state lines with cannabis. Egolf argued though that allowing non-residents to obtain a medical cannabis card and purchase cannabis in New Mexico is not the same as encouraging patients to break the law.
Now the public is left to wonder how the governor will handle this case, given that she signed the legislation that Egolf approved of in the house and is claiming to know the intention and interpretation of the law.
