SANTA FE, N.M. – Many lawmakers wanted to clean up and clarify our cannabis industry laws this session. They did that in large part by passing a massive bill still waiting on the governor’s approval. 

“That’s exactly what we’ve seen as these cannabis products have become more and more available. We see more exposures in children, and the result of that is we’ve had more reports to our poison centers across the nation,” said Dr. Joseph Lambson, director of New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center. 

That’s why New Mexico lawmakers aimed at tightening up state cannabis regulations recently. One effort was to put a stop to misleading packaging like edible marijuana made to look like snacks for kids. 

Democratic Rep. Andrea Romero was a co-sponsor on that bill. 

“Should the governor sign this into law, we just wanted to make clear, crystal clear, what is allowed and what isn’t allowed,” said Romero. 

Part of Senate Bill 6 tries to fight back against colorful, enticing packaging, saying it “shall not mimic the brand, design, name, logo, or colorway of a non-cannabis consumer product marketed to children.”

“Some of these products can be a little bit misleading.  So a gummy, for example, could actually contain four to 10 to even more doses for an adult who’s trying the product for the first time. And so for children, this can become a very massive overdose,” said Lambson.

Other cannabis-related proposals this session included making it contraband in prison and jails. So, unless it’s medical marijuana, it would be a third or fourth-degree felony to have it while incarcerated. 

“So what we had to do is realize, ‘Oh, goodness,’ like this was not intended to ever allow cannabis as contraband,” Romero said. 

Lawmakers say since the industry is relatively new, we’ll likely see legislation evolve in future sessions. 

“We’re no different than any other state in making improvements as we grow this industry responsibly and see how it’s continuing to take shape in our communities,” said Romero.

The next step is to see if Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signs Senate Bill 6 which had a lot of support in both the House and Senate. 

After going through some healthy debate and a few amendments, the final version of the bill went through convincingly. 

In the Senate, the final count was 25 in favor to just 15 against. Even more convincing, in the House, 57 voting yes and only 5 no votes. 

Not everything that’s part of that bill made it to the finish line. For instance, one idea in the original bill was to prohibit selling cannabis at drive-thrus. That was eventually taken out and not a part of the final bill.