2021 New Mexico Statutes
Article 2C - Cannabis Regulation
Section 26-2C-4 - Department of health; duties; public health and safety advisory committee.

A. The department of health shall monitor emerging scientific and medical information relevant to the health effects associated with the use of cannabis products and shall monitor changes in cannabis product use, opioid use and alcohol use patterns for children and adults within the state, broken down by county, race and ethnicity.
B. No later than September 1, 2021, the secretary of health shall appoint a "public health and safety advisory committee" composed of no more than fifteen professionals with expertise related to cannabis products through work, training or research in public health, epidemiology, medicine, medical toxicology, poison control, road safety, occupational safety, environmental safety and emergency medicine.
C. Beginning December 1, 2024, the public health and safety advisory committee shall provide to the legislature, and the department of health shall publish on its website, an annual report on the health effects of legalizing cannabis products for adult use. The report shall include the following elements relating to cannabis product use and, as applicable, the demographics of persons who are the subject of an element:
(1) child access;
(2) road safety and driving while impaired;
(3) workplace safety;
(4) the percentage of emergency room visits and outcomes;
(5) educational needs for children and adults;
(6) consumer and product safety;
(7) the percentage of poison control center calls; and
(8) the impact of cannabis use on rates of alcohol, opioid and other substance abuse.
D. In consultation with qualified patients and primary caregivers, the department of health shall publish an annual assessment report that shall include at a minimum an evaluation of the affordability and accessibility of medical cannabis.
E. Public members of the public health and safety advisory committee are entitled to per diem and mileage as provided for state employees pursuant to the Per Diem and Mileage Act [10-8-1 through 10-8-8 NMSA 1978] and shall receive no other compensation, perquisite or allowance.
History: Laws 2021 (1st S.S.), ch. 4, § 4.
Effective dates. — Laws 2021 (1st S.S.), ch. 4 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective June 29, 2021, 90 days after adjournment of the legislature.
Temporary provisions. — Laws 2021 (1st S.S.), ch. 4, § 70 provided:
A. On June 29, 2021, all functions, personnel, money, appropriations, records, furniture, equipment and other property of the department of health's medical cannabis program that are not part of the department's medical cannabis registry powers and duties shall be transferred to the regulation and licensing department.
B. On June 29, 2021, all contractual obligations and other agreements of the department of health as they pertain to the department's medical cannabis program that are not part of the department's medical cannabis registry powers and duties are binding on the regulation and licensing department.
C. Statutory references to the department of health that pertain to the department's medical cannabis program that are not part of the department's medical cannabis registry powers and duties shall be deemed to be references to the cannabis control division of the regulation and licensing department.
D. On June 29, 2021, any unexpended or unencumbered balance in the medical cannabis fund is transferred to the cannabis regulation fund.
E. Except to the extent any administrative rules are inconsistent with the provisions of this act, any administrative rules adopted by an officer, agency or other entity whose responsibilities have been transferred pursuant to the provisions of this act to another officer, agency or other entity remain in force until amended by the officer, agency or other entity to which the responsibility for the adoption of the rules has been transferred. To the extent any administrative rules are inconsistent with the provisions of this act, such rules are null and void.