SANTA FE – The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) has published the date for the next meeting of the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board. The advisory board will meet on Friday, March 29, at 10 a.m. in the Harold Runnels Building Auditorium (located on the first floor at 1190 S. St. Francis Drive in Santa Fe). The board is expected to review a petition at the March meeting to add Opiate Use Disorder as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis in New Mexico. 

In her State of the State address last month, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham directed NMDOH to include opioid addiction as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis. 

“We will be tough, smart, and we will proceed with empathy for the families caught in [the opioid] crisis,” said Lujan Grisham. “We will not stand in the way of our neighbors who are struggling with addiction and want to recover. Instead we will help them all along the way.”

Other petitions for consideration by the advisory board must be received by the Medical Cannabis Program 30 days prior to the meeting – by Wednesday, February 27, at 5 p.m. - to be considered for the agenda for the March meeting.

The Medical Cannabis Advisory Board plays an important role in the Medical Cannabis Program. The board, composed of board-certified medical practitioners, is appointed by the NMDOH Cabinet Secretary and meets twice a year. The board is tasked with reviewing petitions to add medical conditions, medical treatments or diseases to the list of debilitating medical conditions that qualify for the medical use of cannabis, and make recommendations to the Secretary, who then takes final action. 

For more information about the state’s Medical Cannabis Program, visit here.