The New Mexico Legislature will almost certainly take up legalizing recreational cannabis in January. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has made it is a priority, and lawmakers are debating the merits and downsides of legalization.
This is why NM Political Report and New Mexico PBS, with the help of a grant from the New Mexico Local News Fund, launched “Growing Forward” a 10-episode podcast examining cannabis.
In this first episode, we give a historical overview of the state’s medical cannabis program, which has been in place since 2007. Among the guests is Erin Armstrong, an Albuquerque attorney and one of the namesakes of the state’s medical cannabis law, who discovered she had thyroid cancer when she was 17. Soon, she found herself testifying in front of state lawmakers, trying to make her case that cannabis could help alleviate many of the symptoms she experienced.
The goal of the podcast is not to advocate one way or the other on legalization, but instead to take a look at how New Mexico’s medical cannabis program got to where it is today, the good and the bad of the current program, the primary players in the industry and what we might expect to see during the next legislative session.
Find all the “Growing Forward” episodes at NMPBS.org or wherever you get your podcasts.