New reports indicate that the New Mexico distributor of the product “Undoo” is selling the new trio of supplements aimed at counteracting the effects of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that come from smoking or consuming marijuana.
Assurance Laboratories, which sells the product under its operations and legacy operator Pecos Valley Production, says the product is expected to grow in distribution.
Tim George, the COO of Assurance Laboratories, told the Albuquerque Journal the products “include olive oil, the organic compound olivetol and vitamin E — the latter of which acts as a preservative for the trio of products that come in gel capsule form.”
The company sells its “relief” product, which is marketed as a “cannabis companion” for when the drug is “too strong,” its “refresh” product, listed as a “daily after-cannabis ritual” for when there is “lingering fogginess,” and a “reset” product called the “high tolerance solution” for “lowering your tolerance to THC.”
Since marijuana became legal in New Mexico in April 2022, New Mexico has seen over $300 million in sales, with $2.82 million in pot sales alone on this year’s “420” holiday that praises pot consumption.
It is unclear if the Undoo products will affect the sales of marijuana in New Mexico, either to go higher or lower, due to the purported effects of the compounds.
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.
During the 2021 Legislative Session, New Mexico legalized recreational marijuana, which will likely see a boom in the usage of the drug across the state.
According to KOB 4, “From 2014 through 2016, the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center averaged about 70 calls of people consuming too much marijuana. Those numbers doubled from 2017 through 2019.”
Marijuana-related poisonings have already been on the rise in New Mexico, and with the new law taking place in April of 2022, there will be an even greater boom.
Dr. Susan Smolinske, director of the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center, says the current rise is a combination of availability and acceptability by the public.
“We’re trying to look at our data more closely, we think that our double jump occurred when Colorado legalized recreational marijuana, and we started to see more pediatric accidental exposures,” said Dr. Smolinske.
Kids are at risk of being poisoned by the substance. “We had four severe cases last year and children aged one to two who needed a ventilator,” according to Dr. Smolinske.
Dr. Smolinske urged, “These need to be treated as medications and kept out of reach and locked up away from the kids.”
The report comes as the State of New Mexico is still formulating rules regarding the implementation of the recently passed recreational pot bill. It is unclear if concerns related to child safety will be put on the docket as items necessary to address in the rollout of the new legal marijuana law.
One marijuana proposal during the 2021 Legialture had a loophole giving minors access to the drug. “ “It is not a violation of the Cannabis Regulation Act when: a parent, a legal guardian or adult spouse of a person under twenty-one years of age serves cannabis products to that person under twenty-one years of age on real property, other than licensed premises, under the control of the parent, legal guardian, or adult spouse,” read the passage.
As marijuana becomes more readily available on the open market in New Mexico, time will tell if preventative measures by the state will help stave off poisonings.
On Monday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed H.B. 2, which was rammed through the Legislature in a special session specifically called for recreational marijuana passage after the body failed to pass the bill in the regular session.
The Governor called the bill, “a major, major step forward for our state. Legalized adult-use cannabis is going to change the way we think about New Mexico for the better – our workforce, our economy, our future.”
She added, “We are going to increase consumer safety by creating a bona fide industry. We’re going to start righting past wrongs of this country’s failed war on drugs. And we’re going to break new ground in an industry that may well transform New Mexico’s economic future for the better.”
✅ SIGNED: Special Session HB 2, legalizing adult-use cannabis in New Mexico!
This legislation is a major, major step forward for our state. Legalized adult-use cannabis is going to change the way we think about New Mexico for the better – our workforce, our economy, our future. pic.twitter.com/rosl1AJm6t
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.
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.
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.
New Mexico is the 16th state to legalize recreational dope, following New York and fourteen other states. Law enforcers and family-based groups have noted how the bill would lead to more people using narcotics in the state, while these drugs will be more readily accessible to youth. These concerns fell on deaf ears by the Democrats in the Legislature and Lujan Grisham.
The New Mexico Legislature rammed through Democrats’ H.B. 2, the Cannabis Regulation Act, during a special session called by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham after lawmakers in the Democrat-dominated Legislature failed to pass it during the regular session. Traditionally, special sessions are only called for emergencies and urgent matters such as natural disasters or pandemics.
The newly passed recreational marijuana law, which is likely to be signed into law any day now by the Governor, has many in law enforcement wary of the law opening the door for even more corrosive illicit drugs such as methamphetamine and crack cocaine being fast-tracked to legalization.
Lea County Sheriff Corey Helton told the Carlsbad Current-Argus that he “feared the passage of legislation to legalize the use of recreational cannabis in New Mexico could be the first step in decriminalizing other current illegal substances.” He said he would “expect more of this” in the future, leading the state down a slippery slope.
Former FBI agent and current Roswell Mayor Dennis Kintigh said narcotics legalization is a destructive road to go down.
“People who have never dealt with a family of a meth user have no concept of how destructive that drug is. Same thing for heroin and that’s the problem. These people who have these rose-colored glasses concept, ‘well it’s only a problem because it’s illegal,’ no it’s illegal because they’re problems,” he said.
“The reality is there’s a huge drug problem here in New Mexico. I believe the drug problem really flows from behavioral health issues and this has done nothing to make it better. This is basically the state serving as an enabler to encourage those who are in bad shape having real issues to continue to wallow in a situation that will ultimately destroy them.”
In states such as Colorado, which have legalized recreational weed, it has seen a dramatic increase in violent crime, traffic fatalities, and marijuana hospitalizations. And usage by minors – sometimes fatal, from eating poorly regulated marijuana candies has increased.
“The bottom line is it’s a scheduled one narcotic. Whether you agree with it or not, it’s still on the schedule one for federal. Which means there is no use for it whatsoever and that hasn’t changed and that’s not going to change for a while,” said Eddy County Sheriff Mark Cage.
He noted how New Mexico’s new law puts banks in jeopardy because on the federal level, financial institutions cannot do business with entities selling the illicit drug, per federal law.
“Because they’re FDIC insured. So, they can’t do that. They’re not allowed to do that,” said Cage. “You want to legalize dope, smoke it, eat it. That’s great. The problem is it’s still illegal federally and it still has all these weird implications that we have to deal with.”
“Because our governor wanted this, and I have to wonder exactly why? Is it a money thing? It’s not definitely a money thing for our state economy, right? Is it a money thing for individuals? Or is it for votes? Maybe that’s what is. I don’t know. I’m astounded by it,” added Cage.
The new law is sure to add roadblocks for local law enforcers and leave financial institutions liable, something that Cage called the Governor putting “the cart before the horse.” It is unclear what the next step is for the Legislature in the legalization of narcotics, but if the recent legislative session proved anything, the Democrats have the votes to ram through just about anything they want.
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.
On Tuesday, the New Mexico Legislature will reconvene at the behest of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to reconsider a bill legalizing recreational marijuana. However, there is much confusion about what the bill under consideration is going to cover since conflicting pieces of legislation have been distributed to state legislators. One draft appears to grant minors access to marijuana through a loophole.
Sen. George Munñoz (D-Cibola, McKinley, and San Juan) told the Santa Fe New Mexican, “They were supposed to send us a copy of it today. I really don’t know what it’s going to look like. Every time I went to read one [a cannabis bill] during the session, every four hours they had a different bill.”
Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Doña Ana), who serves as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, “Nobody is saying the bill is ready and should be passed from top to bottom.”
On Monday, Cervantes tweeted out, “To those calling and messaging me on marijuana legislation for special session tomorrow. I’m told we’ll get a new rewritten bill today, which addresses all issues I and others identified in our Judiciary Committee hearing during the regular session.”
To those calling and messaging me on marijuana legislation for special session tomorrow. I'm told we'll get a new rewritten bill today, which addresses all issues I and others identified in our Judiciary Committee hearing during the regular session.
According to the Carlsbad Current-Argus, Cervantes said the bill might be split in two, with one portion dealing with recreational marijuana legalization, while another deals with “social justice” aspects to expunge records of past drug offenses.
“You can understand how some legislators might vote for the licensing bill, but be against criminal justice reforms; and conversely, some vote the criminal justice reforms and against the licensing bill,” Cervantes said. “There are some Republicans who have said they support the principle of legalization, but may have problems expunging records and letting people out of jail.”
However, there is no certainty the bill will have the support to pass the Senate, with the Santa Fe New Mexican warning of how risky prior special sessions called by governors have been, notably Gov. Gary Johnson, who reconvened the Legislature to fix budgetary issues while falling short on a push to “close a loophole in state gasoline tax law that allowed Indian tribes to sell wholesale gas tax-free.”
“There are plenty of ideas and, with Easter approaching, precious little time. We’ll see whether legislators can build a new industry, or just blow smoke,” wrote the New Mexican’s editorial board.
Senator Gregg Schmedes (R-Bernalillo, Sandoval, Santa Fe, and Torrance) shared on his Facebook page what appears to be a Democrat version of the marijuana bill in contention, where it reads “It is not a violation of the Cannabis Regulation Act when: a parent, a legal guardian or adult spouse of a person under twenty-one years of age serves cannabis products to that person under twenty-one years of age on real property, other than licensed premises, under the control of the parent, legal guardian, or adult spouse.” Schmedes wrote, “Apparently Dems like the idea of giving marijuana to minors. Might want to talk to the CDC or WHO or just about any doctor first.”
Also concerning members of the New Mexico Senate is whether Pro Tem Mimi Stewart (D-Bernalillo) will force “sensitivity training” down members’ throats after she was distraught after debating Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto over a bill regarding paid medical leave. She couldn’t answer basic questions about her bill and claimed Ivey-Soto was “abusive.”
One Republican senator told the Piñon Post that he would reject the training if asked to do it. The senator wrote, “Ha. I will refuse. I don’t force them to do common-sense training.”
As the special session approaches, the Governor has made it crystal clear that she is not taking “no” for an answer, and the recreational pot industry has made it clear that “social justice” provisions of the bill are “absolutely required.”
House Republican Leader Jim Townsend said in a statement, “The past sixty days have been defined by the Governor and Democrats silencing the voice of the people, and the silence has become deafening following the crash and burn of their pot bill.”
“If legalizing marijuana is truly about the people, you would think that New Mexicans from all walks of life would have the opportunity to contribute to the process, especially when it failed so miserable[y] at the last minute due to too many cooks in the kitchen. Transparency is key to the public good, and so far all I can tell you is that transparency in this building is on shaky ground.”
On Sunday, the Las Cruces Sun ran an article talking about Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s recreational marijuana legalization push and the terminology that the dope industry has been using to euphemize marijuana: “cannabis.”
The article claims that many industry leaders prefer the term “cannabis,” which is the drug’s scientific term to “marijuana” “given the term’s association with criminality as well as racist animus toward Latino and other non-white social groups.”
“It played into branding immigrants as a problem and it played into branding people of color as a threat to white America,” claimed New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce executive director Ben Lewinger. He added, “I think we absolutely need to stop saying ‘marijuana’ — today.”
Lewinger also claims that using the term “recreational” is also discriminatory, saying, “Some advocates say the crude distinction between ‘recreational’ and ‘medicinal’ use has the effect of stigmatizing those who use cannabis without a physician’s signature or a state-minted medical cannabis card.”
“I would say a lot of people who use cannabis ‘recreationally’ are using it to help them sleep, or for stress relief, or for anxiety reduction, or for pain management even if they’re not enrolled in the medical program right now,” Lewinger said.
Regarding the terms “black market,” “illicit market,” or “illegal market” marijuana, Lewinger claims that what makes these terms offensive to him is the fact that “what is illicit or unlawful gets decided by who writes the laws — i.e., who holds power.” Essentially, he thinks that because white men hold places of power in government, the very act of not legalizing recreational weed is racist.
“The medical cannabis industry, which is largely owned by white men — they’re still engaging in federally illegal activity right now,” Lewinger said, “but we don’t talk about it in the same way that we would of a person of color growing and selling cannabis.”
“When we talk about undoing the harms of the war on drugs that has disproportionately impacted Black and brown people in the United States, part of that is acknowledging that it’s very much those people of color who are now in jail who are the trailblazers for cannabis in the United States,” says Lewinger.
Previously, while speaking on the “New Mexico Grass” podcast, Lewinger said that the left-wing social justice aspects of a marijuana bill are “super important” and “absolutely required” for the bill. He said, “We absolutely have to do that.”
He also said that he thought the Democrats’ recreational marijuana bill had an 88% to 100% chance of passing during a special session of the New Mexico Legislature.
Gov. Lujan Grisham has announced a special session to commence on March 30 to hash out the marijuana bill, as well as an economic development program, which is likely to extend through Holy Week ahead of Easter.
On Thursday’s episode of a startup podcast called “New Mexico Grass,” the show featured the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce executive director Ben Lewinger to talk about marijuana legalization and his thoughts on New Mexico politics. The Chamber’s members include Big Pot donors to many legislators’ campaigns, such as PurLife and Nature RX.
During the interview, Lewinger was asked why it has taken so long to get close to a recreational marijuana bill passing. In his answer, he characterized rural areas of the state that lean Republican as stigmatized, claiming, “New Mexico is a hard blue state — a very progressive state, but once you get out of the urban areas of Las Cruces, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe, New Mexico is rural and conservative. And I think still the stigma around cannabis as an illicit substance is very much alive and well.”
He also blasted New Mexico’s citizen legislature, saying, “You know, for several reasons, New Mexico is not a state that is one that is set up to get things done quickly. Right?! We have — we’re the last state that has a volunteer legislature. If you look at, like, you know, California, those are full-time jobs.”
He added, “We’re the last state with volunteer legislators, and they meet 30 and 60 days alternating each year compared to California where it’s like Congress where they’re in session most of the year, and they can just get a lot more done.”
“I think New Mexico still very much suffers from this idea that we don’t have the same ability to create our own reality as other states do,” said Lewinger.
Regarding the marijuana proposal’s left-wing social justice aspects, Lewinger said these portions of the bill are “super important” and “absolutely required” for the bill. He said, “We absolutely have to do that.”
“The way we’re trying to do it creates a mechanism for us to incorporate a lot of the very important social equity pieces, but it doesn’t mean that it’s the easiest way to do it. And that’s why, you know, we worked for several years to figure out how to create this legislative vehicle to get it done,” he said.
Later in the interview, Lewinger said that he thought the Democrats’ recreational marijuana bill had an 88% to 100% chance of passing during a special session of the New Mexico Legislature.
When asked about cannabis legalization on the national level, Lewinger said that he doesn’t expect Joe Biden to legalize cannabis nationwide. However, he says he will take it off the “schedule,” thereby decriminalizing it.
Lewinger then said, “I think the next Democratic president — Kamala Harris — will probably legalize cannabis.”
Gov. Lujan Grisham has announced a special session to commence on March 30 to hash out the marijuana bill, as well as an economic development program, which is likely to extend through Holy Week ahead of Easter.
