Silver City – The Grant County Chamber of Commerce recently published a post about the use of marijuana that pertains to Silver City and New Mexico.
According to the post, the chamber stated it placed the article because marijuana legalization will more than likely, once again, be heard during the 2017 Legislature in Santa Fe. The chamber states the state is looking for increases and cuts to its financial situation and that legalizing marijuana and taxing those sales may come in the form of a finance bill. They wanted its members to know what is happening around the country about the use of marijuana.
The Chamber wanted to make sure that everyone knew they aren’t supporting marijuana or condemning it. There are laws regarding the growth and use of marijuana and those laws should be followed, adhered to and enforced.
According to the article a new Gallup Poll found that American adults who say they currently smoke marijuana nearly has doubled over the past three years. In 2013, seven percent of adults said they were marijuana smokers. But, when Gallup conducted the poll again this year in July, 13 percent admitted to current marijuana use. That means about 33 million adults are marijuana users in the U.S.
The Poll stated that likely factors to this is the decline in cigarette use which states that about 40 million people currently smoke cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Also recreational marijuana markets opened in Colorado and Washington and several other states voted to try and legalize the use back in 2014. The poll stated that its likely that those places are taking advantage of the new opportunities to indulge in the use legally.
In recent years support for legalizing marijuana has gone up from 55 percent to 60 percent and there has been legislation to try and loosen restrictions on marijuana use at the federal level.
The fact is that marijuana use continues to be illegal federally and in most states including New Mexico. Ultra Health has applied for a dispensary in Silver City and was already issued a business license according to Silver City town manager Alex Brown. The medical cannabis program has just released a statement saying that total patient revenue for the first six months ending in June of 2016 as exceeded $21.8 million. This is a 67 percent increase from the same period last year.
Ultra Health is claiming that they are one of four providers that had patient sales over $1 million in the second quarter alone, which is an industry first.
Ultra Health stated in a news release that rural communities like Silver City remain the most underserved. It has submitted 14 amendments for new markets and Ultra Health claims the New Mexico Department of Health has yet to approve or deny the amendment requests, including the one for Silver City.
“The New Mexico medical cannabis program continues to grow rapidly even with delays in patients receiving their cards, the highest license fees in the country and the lowest allowed plant count for cultivation,” Duke Rodriguez, CEO and president of Ultra Health, LLC said. “A huge challenge for the New Mexico cannabis industry going forward will be in meeting patient expectations of availability, affordability and quality, especially with continued enrollment problems and low reported inventories.”
According to Ultra Health, the New Mexico Department of Health renewed licenses for 35 non-profit producers, who paid up to $90,000 in fees each for the maximum 450 medical cannabis plants. Ultra Health states as of July 31, 2016, there was 27,980 active medical cannabis cards issued to patients.
Rodriguez was to present to the New Mexico Legislative Health and Human Services Committee on Monday in Taos.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Chamber Of Commerce Posts About Marijuana Issues
Author: Dammy Udero
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Website: Silver City Sun-News