Sheriff: N.M. not ready to legalize cannabis

Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart says that, in her opinion, New Mexico is not ready for cannabis legalization.

“Why now?” she asked.

“If we can’t run a pension plan, we’re going to run a $400 million business?” said Stewart, who was a member of the Cannabis Legalization Working Group appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan-Grisham in 2019 to study legalization.

“Just by the numbers, we’re not ready … to run a business of that magnitude,” she said. “A lot of questions are not sufficiently addressed. it’s mind boggling the amount of infrastructure that needs to be in place.”

Being a member of the governor’s working group was “eye opening,” Stewart said, noting that she attended six public meetings in different parts of the state, listening to more than 50 hours of discussion involving more than 300 people. The consensus of those meetings, she said, was that legalization is an enormous undertaking for the state.

The sheriff said she is concerned that the New Mexico Health and Human Services Department and lawenforcement agencies around the state aren’t properly funded and won’t be ready to deal with legalization if it’s approved this year.

For example, she said, at present there is no field test to determine if the driver of a vehicle is operating under the influence of cannabis. These and other “nuts and bolts” are not being addressed, she said. “I don’t see it as being easy to implement.”

Stewart said she also is concerned that legalization is being touted as a way to expand state revenue, but she believes that, in reality, a lot of the benefit likely will go to out-of-statecompanies.