‘Seize all cannabis’: Inside the surprising federal crackdown on New Mexico weed farmers

May 2, 2024
AggregatedNews
Federal, New Mexico
2 Comments

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been seizing cannabis in the southern part of the state, sparking tensions with Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Drug cartels and human traffickers aren’t the only people dodging border patrol officers these days in southern New Mexico. The state’s cannabis businesses — which operate legally under state law — are also desperately trying to evade border checkpoints.

That’s because U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized more than $300,000 of state-licensed cannabis in New Mexico in the last two months. These seizures occurred at border patrol checkpoints, some of which lie as far as 80 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

The crackdown has created tension between the Biden administration and Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham — who championed marijuana legalization and touted it as an economic boon for the state. The enforcement actions are occurring as the Justice Department is preparing to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana, which would mark the biggest liberalization of drug policy in more than half a century.

“It doesn’t feel like this really has anything to do with what their role is,” said Ben Lewinger, executive director of the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce. “They’re supposed to detain people entering the country illegally, and then detain narcotics and other dangerous items also entering the country illegally.”

The wave of seizures mark a clear departure from long-standing federal policy, wherein law enforcement officials have largely taken a hands-off approach to enforcement in the 38 states that have legalized medical or recreational cannabis possession in conflict with federal law. [Read More @ Politico]

This Post Has 2 Comments

Michael Davis says:

May 2, 2024 at 12:20 pm

There are four groups that want to continue the criminalization and illegality of a plant that can grow wild if allowed to grow:
1. The groups that benefits directly from cannabis being illegal such as private prison owners along with police and members of drug task forces.
2. Corrupt politicians that accept kickbacks from pharmaceutical, tobacco, alcohol, lumber, and paper companies.
3. The actual producers and growers of the illegal or “Black Market” weed.
4. Uneducated Morons that still believe in Reefer Madness.

Reply
Mark Praught says:

May 2, 2024 at 2:02 pm

First, some facts about the United States Border Patrol’s (USBP) interior checkpoints. These checkpoints are located between 25 and 75 miles (40 and 121 km) of the Mexico–United States border along major U.S. highways near the southern border of the contiguous United States. Their interior locations allow them to deter illegal activities that may have bypassed official border crossings along the frontier.

Fact: These checkpoints are ONLY for traffic OUTbound from the US-Mexico border.

Fact: The IN-bound traffic is NOT diverted, nor stopped or checked.

Fact: Legal cannabis grown within this close border area cannot readily be differentiated from illegal Mexican cannabis smuggled across the border and packaged in safe houses with counterfeit labels and possibly altered with other drugs such as fentanyl.

Fact: The Border Patrol agents cannot readily tell the difference between legal cannabis versus illegal and possibly adulterated cannabis at these stops, so they confiscate ALL cannabis.

What does this mean:

(1.) New Mexico producers and dispensaries that willingly chose to be within this border zone with their businesses did not weigh or consider these risks and costs.
OR,
(2.) thought that their businesses being so close to Texas customers (not legal in TX) and local New Mexican residents would suffice for sales and not be a problem.

(3.) Legal New Mexico cannabis producers, dispensaries, and buyers beyond these USBP interior checkpoints do not have these problems.

(4.) Legal laboratory samples can be sent through UPS or FedEx within state borders and are illegal through the federal USPS.

Reply

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