Big Pot

NM to subsidize recreational marijuana businesses

4 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

As previously reported by the Piñon Post, the Democrats’ far-left bill they rammed through during the 2021 Special Session of the Legislature would come to an extreme cost to New Mexicans, who would be forced to subsidize marijuana businesses.

At the time, we reported:

…The upfront cost for implementing the marijuana industry, according to the previous 2021 session’s fiscal impact report, was $659,400 in 2022. However, the newly resurrected pot bill in this current legislative session paints a wildly different picture, forcing the state to delve out millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to prop up Big Pot.

The current bill introduced this special session calls for $1.7 million to the Regulation and Licensing Department to “administer” the bill, $750,000 to the Department of Public Safety for “drug recognition expert field certification for law enforcement,” $4 million to the Taxation and Revenue Department for expenditures in the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years, $500,000 to the Administrative Office of the Courts to help address with expungement of records, among other costs.

Just on face-value, the taxpayers of New Mexico would be on the hook for nearly $7 million to implement this costly industry, which was promised to be revenue-generating. 

However, according to the previous fiscal impact report for the bill that died in the first legislative session of 2021, by the fiscal year 2024, the flailing industry would only produce at most $15 million in net revenue to the state, which, if current spending levels remain, would only amount to 0.204% of the funds needed to fund the government. 

At the time, Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Santa Fe) was not pleased with the Democrats’ proposal, writing on Facebook, “We’ve been told marijuana will be revenue positive but now, in the middle of Special Session (that has been called in the middle of a Holiday week), we learn last-minute that the state will subsidize the marijuana industry with millions of taxpayer dollars. This is far from open transparent government!” 

Now, a legislative committee has approved subsidizing pot businesses, with the Regulation and Licensing Department’s proposal to have New Mexico taxpayers fund these businesses via “loans” at $250,000 apiece. These loans would have extremely competitive two percent and three percent interest rates. 

“The New Mexico Finance Authority is planning for a $5 million line of credit for cannabis entrepreneurs, with [an] average loan size of about $100,000. The application process is expected to open in February,” according to the Associated Press.

“Loans would be available to qualified cannabis ‘microbusinesses’ that are licensed to cultivate and sell marijuana from up to 200 plants at a single location, operating much like a craft winery or brewery,” the report notes.

Many legislators who voted for the extreme recreational marijuana bill took large sums from the Big Pot lobby. Scandal-ridden alleged serial groper Gov. Lujan Grisham, who demanded the bill be passed and signed into law, has taken tens of thousands of dollars from the industry in campaign cash.

According to the most recently filed campaign finance report from Lujan Grisham, former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White who owns the marijuana business PurLife gave her $10,000, $10,400, $10,400, and $10,400 in four apparently separate payments.

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After MLG signs radical recreational marijuana bill, liberals finally admit its meager economic impact

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During a special 2021 legislative session called by embattled Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Democrats rammed through their extreme marijuana bill despite health, safety, and economic concerns raised by New Mexicans. One main argument against legalizing the contraband substance, which is still registered as a Schedule 1 narcotic federally, is that its economic impacts would be meager while increased law enforcement and administrative costs associated with implementation would make it financially useless. 

At the time, the Piñon Post made clear that this bill, if implemented, would not even be a drop in the bucket for the state budget, which the Governor desperately wants to be oil and gas-free. In March, we wrote, “Weed, no matter if it passes or not, won’t make the slightest difference in the state’s budget, but Gov. Lujan Grisham sure wants to make New Mexico dependent on drug money–either by 20% taxed dope through her plan–or on the streets through contraband merchants of the product.” 

We reported the following:

According to that leftist legal recreational pot plan’s fiscal impact report, New Mexico would take in at most $15.1 million in revenue after years of losses to implement the program. 

For context, the MOST such a revenue plan would generate in revenue wold be 0.204% of the needed funds to plug the gaping hole in Gov. Lujan Grisham’s budget. 

The oil and gas industry, in contrast, generated $2.8 billion directly to the state general fund in fiscal year 2020. That is approximately 37% of the state’s budget coming from oil and gas.

In states that have already legalized adult-use marijuana, the largest of them being California, the state only brought in a total of $1.5 billion since 2018. The state’s budget is approximately $202 billion.

Now, far-left publications, including the Santa Fe New Mexican, are finally agreeing with the cautionary assessment made by many before the passage of the radical bill. 

On Monday, the New Mexican quoted multiple people in the economic community who said much of the same. Marijuana “will not replace oil or gas,” Sarah Stith, an assistant professor of economics at the University of New Mexico told the paper.

“A lot of [recreational marijuana] revenue is dependent on tourism and consumers’ willingness to pay given the added cost of the tax,” Ismael Torres, senior economist for the Legislative Finance Committee, was quoted. Torres was speaking about the 12% tax on marijuana which the radical Governor’s bill will implement in combination with local taxes (such as in Santa Fe, which is 8.4375%, feeding the black market’s market share due to 20% taxed pot. 

The Legislative Finance Committee in a March fiscal impact report predicted the first full fiscal year of recreational marijuana sales starting in July 2022 would produce an estimated $19.1 million in net tax revenue for the state and $9.4 million for local governments. Fiscal year 2023-24 could see $30.1 million in net state tax revenue and $15.1 million for local governments.

“Legal, homegrown marijuana and continuing black market sales could take further bites from taxable sales, Stith added,” the report said.

“There could be a substantial impact to revenues if more medical-use licenses are sought to avoid the cost of taxes or if medical users begin to purchase cannabis recreationally as accessibility grows,” Torres added. “Shifts between recreational and medical cannabis is a big, unanswered question for us.”

“There will be a lot of supply, but will there be the demand?” James Wheeler, owner of Commercial Properties Inc. in Santa Fe said. “One of my clients said 90 percent of novices going into this are going to fail.”

But the Governor did not pay attention to the economically catastrophic results of marijuana implementation in New Mexico. She did whatever necessary to fulfill her campaign promise to her far-left supporters of “legal weed” — no matter the cost. She said that she would “not take no for an answer” and refused to wait until the next legislative session for a more digestible bill. 

Lujan Grisham took tens of thousands of dollars from the Big Pot lobby, including tens of thousands of dollars from Darren White of PurLife and others.  Many state legislators also took cash from the Big Pot lobby. 

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Dem-dominated Legislature rams through extreme recreational weed bill heavily subsidizing Big Pot

11 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Wednesday, the New Mexico Legislature passed Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s radical recreational marijuana legalization bill, which will give the green light to the use of the illicit drug in the State of New Mexico, a major blow to commerce, law enforcement, and child safety in the state.

The New Mexico Senate passed the Senate by a vote of 22-15, with two Democrat senators, Bobby Gonzales (D-Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, and Taos) and Shannon Pinto (D-McKinley & San Juan), voting with Republicans against it.

The Governor called the bill’s passage by the Legislature a “significant victory for New Mexico,” writing that “Workers will benefit from the opportunity to build careers in this new economy. Entrepreneurs will benefit from the opportunity to create lucrative new enterprises. The state and local governments will benefit from the additional revenue. Consumers will benefit from the standardization and regulation that comes with a bona fide industry.” 

However, the most such a bill would bring in to the state would be peanuts compared to the bloated state budget that currently sits at $7.4 billion. Proceeds from the sale of recreational marijuana would only contribute a maximum of 0.204% of the state’s needed budget or $15.1 million in the best year.

According to one report, “The state would levy a 12% excise tax on sales to start, and the tax would grow to 18% over time. Gross receipts taxes would also be added on, pushing the total tax rate to 20% to 26% overall.” 

Both chambers of the Legislature also adopted separate legislation to subsidize the Big Pot industry with $7 million in cash, despite the Governor claiming the industry would bring in money to the state. 

The vehicle used to push through weed, H.B. 2, co-sponsored by Rep. Javier Martinez (D-Bernalillo) and Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-Bernalillo), was ultimately voted on to move forward over Sen. Cliff Pirtle’s (R-Chaves, Eddy, and Otero) competing proposal, which died.

Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Doña Ana), who was conveniently absent for the final vote on H.B. 2, said, “This bill is not ready, this policy is not ready, New Mexico is not ready,” showing his concern that legalization will do more harm than good in a state plagued by drug and alcohol addiction.

“We’re not really genuinely here to debate the bill or improve the bill,” said Sen. Cervantes, D-Las Cruces. “We’re here to pass the bill.”

The Senate Democrats decisively killed just every amendment to their radical bill proposed by Republicans. Thankfully for minors in New Mexico, the previous language in prior bills allowing parents to legally provide cannabis to children under 21 was removed from the currency legislation.

The bill, however, allows adults over 21 to grow their own pot plants for personal use up to six for personal use and twelve for household use, which will expose children and minors to marijuana.

After the Senate passed the controversial bill following its first passage in the House, the House voted to concur on the bill. It now goes to Gov. Lujan Grisham’s desk, where she is no doubt happily waiting to sign the extreme measure. New Mexico is the 16th state to legalize recreational dope, following New York and fourteen other states. 

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Dems want NM taxpayers to subsidize recreational pot bill with over $7M in funds

2 Comments / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Tuesday, the New Mexico Legislature met for the Governor’s special session on recreational marijuana legalization. She and her party failed to pass it through the Legislature despite having big majorities in both chambers.

The bill, which Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has promised will be a money-maker for the state through the sale of marijuana, turns out to be an apparent scam to subsidize the industry heavily.

As reported earlier, the upfront cost for implementing the marijuana industry, according to the previous 2021 session’s fiscal impact report, was $659,400 in 2022. However, the newly resurrected pot bill in this current legislative session paints a wildly different picture, forcing the state to delve out millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to prop up Big Pot.

The current bill introduced this special session calls for $1.7 million to the Regulation and Licensing Department to “administer” the bill, $750,000 to the Department of Public Safety for “drug recognition expert field certification for law enforcement,” $4 million to the Taxation and Revenue Department for expenditures in the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years, $500,000 to the Administrative Office of the Courts to help address with expungement of records, among other costs.

Just on face-value, the taxpayers of New Mexico would be on the hook for nearly $7 million to implement this costly industry, which was promised to be revenue-generating. 

However, according to the previous fiscal impact report for the bill that died in the first legislative session of 2021, by the fiscal year 2024, the flailing industry would only produce at most $15 million in net revenue to the state, which, if current spending levels remain, would only amount to 0.204% of the funds needed to fund the government. 

Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Santa Fe) was not pleased with the Democrats’ proposal, writing on Facebook, “We’ve been told marijuana will be revenue positive but now, in the middle of Special Session (that has been called in the middle of a Holiday week), we learn last-minute that the state will subsidize the marijuana industry with millions of taxpayer dollars. This is far from open transparent government!” 

Lujan Grisham’s allies in the Legislature hope to pass the bill within a matter of days without much care for Republican input. H.B. 2, the pot bill, passed the House Judiciary Committee at around 1 a.m. on Wednesday by 7-4 after it flew through the House Taxation and Revenue Committee on Tuesday by a vote of 8-4.

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