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State poised to issue new producer’s licenses for medical marijuana
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_a49ff2b8-8cbb-53ab-ade3-7cfc3a0a6154.html
The state Department of Health says it will decide within 30 days who will receive the first new nonprofit marijuana producer’s licenses in five years through the state’s Medical Cannabis Program.
The agency has strictly limited the number of marijuana grower’s licenses since the program began in 2007. Officials have said they didn’t want to allow excess marijuana to be grown and diverted to the black market, or to attract attention from federal law enforcement agencies by having a program that was too loosely regulated.
But in 2014, after patients and would-be producers complained that the 23 licensed growers weren’t producing enough to meet demand, the department announced it would reopen the application process and issue as many as a dozen new licenses. Even a study by the department itself found that only 20 percent of demand was being met.
About 10,000 patients were in the program then. The number has since grown to more than 16,000.
Nearly 90 applicants have paid $10,000 — $9,000 of which is refundable if the applicant is rejected — for a chance to secure one of the new producer’s licenses.
The department announced Monday that it has narrowed the field of 87 applicants to 17 finalists. It plans to decide how many new licenses it will issue and to whom within the next month.
Applications are being assessed by three members of a review committee. They assign point values to different aspects of the application. Among the categories being reviewed are the production plan, the sales and distribution plan, and the quality assurance plan.
Each section is assigned a total point value. For example, the agricultural and production experience of the applicant is worth up to 50 points. The security plan can mean as many as 150 points.
Department spokesman Kenny Vigil said in a statement that the 17 finalists represent the top 20 percent of applicants. But, he said, Cabinet Secretary Retta Ward has the final say over how many new licenses will be issued and which applicants will receive a license.
The New Mexican requested the scoring sheets of the top applicants. Vigil referred the request to the department’s records custodian, who didn’t immediately provide the documents.
The department has historically kept the identities of the producers confidential. Freelance journalist Peter St. Cyr and the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government challenged that policy last month in a suit filed in state District Court. They argued that the statute creating the Medical Cannabis Program does not call for confidentiality, and that the public has a right to know who is applying for the potentially lucrative public licenses.
St. Cyr said recently that one reason to release the names of applicants during the selection process is to make sure the licenses go to the most qualified applicants, not the most connected.
The number of plants that producers can grow and the fees associated with being a producer changed within the past year. The annual licensing fee to grow the maximum of 450 plants is now $90,000. But according to a report recently released by the Health Department, one producer took in nearly $1 million in the second quarter of 2015.
By law, the producers must be registered nonprofits.
Gov. Susana Martinez directed the department in July to make the identities of the producers public record. But the department has continued to refuse to release the information, pending a formal change to its regulations.
Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @phaedrann.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...cle_a49ff2b8-8cbb-53ab-ade3-7cfc3a0a6154.html
The state Department of Health says it will decide within 30 days who will receive the first new nonprofit marijuana producer’s licenses in five years through the state’s Medical Cannabis Program.
The agency has strictly limited the number of marijuana grower’s licenses since the program began in 2007. Officials have said they didn’t want to allow excess marijuana to be grown and diverted to the black market, or to attract attention from federal law enforcement agencies by having a program that was too loosely regulated.
But in 2014, after patients and would-be producers complained that the 23 licensed growers weren’t producing enough to meet demand, the department announced it would reopen the application process and issue as many as a dozen new licenses. Even a study by the department itself found that only 20 percent of demand was being met.
About 10,000 patients were in the program then. The number has since grown to more than 16,000.
Nearly 90 applicants have paid $10,000 — $9,000 of which is refundable if the applicant is rejected — for a chance to secure one of the new producer’s licenses.
The department announced Monday that it has narrowed the field of 87 applicants to 17 finalists. It plans to decide how many new licenses it will issue and to whom within the next month.
Applications are being assessed by three members of a review committee. They assign point values to different aspects of the application. Among the categories being reviewed are the production plan, the sales and distribution plan, and the quality assurance plan.
Each section is assigned a total point value. For example, the agricultural and production experience of the applicant is worth up to 50 points. The security plan can mean as many as 150 points.
Department spokesman Kenny Vigil said in a statement that the 17 finalists represent the top 20 percent of applicants. But, he said, Cabinet Secretary Retta Ward has the final say over how many new licenses will be issued and which applicants will receive a license.
The New Mexican requested the scoring sheets of the top applicants. Vigil referred the request to the department’s records custodian, who didn’t immediately provide the documents.
The department has historically kept the identities of the producers confidential. Freelance journalist Peter St. Cyr and the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government challenged that policy last month in a suit filed in state District Court. They argued that the statute creating the Medical Cannabis Program does not call for confidentiality, and that the public has a right to know who is applying for the potentially lucrative public licenses.
St. Cyr said recently that one reason to release the names of applicants during the selection process is to make sure the licenses go to the most qualified applicants, not the most connected.
The number of plants that producers can grow and the fees associated with being a producer changed within the past year. The annual licensing fee to grow the maximum of 450 plants is now $90,000. But according to a report recently released by the Health Department, one producer took in nearly $1 million in the second quarter of 2015.
By law, the producers must be registered nonprofits.
Gov. Susana Martinez directed the department in July to make the identities of the producers public record. But the department has continued to refuse to release the information, pending a formal change to its regulations.
Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @phaedrann.
