New Mexico Official Defends Process For Licensing
““We used the same process that we’ve been using for the last two years…”
The head of New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program on Monday defended a highly criticized process the state followed to issue a coveted marijuana production license just one day before a new agency assumed regulatory authority.
On June 23, the Department of Health opened a five-day window to apply for lucrative marijuana producer licenses, the first time it had sought applications in six years.
But the department gave little public notice.
The department posted a link to the application on its website but didn’t issue a news release or otherwise alert the public, nor did the posting explicitly state new applications were being accepted.
The one and only company that applied — Albuquerque-based GH LLC — was granted a license June 28. That was a day after high-level officials conducted a Sunday inspection of the company’s facilities and a day before the medical program’s transfer of power to the newly created Cannabis Control Division.
Program Director Dr. Dominick Zurlo said the department didn’t do anything out of the norm.
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