New Mexico gave a shot at passing a legalization/regulation bill through the legislature during a 30-day session. It failed to pass.
The consensus is that it’s failure was due to the sponsor not distributing copies of the bill quickly enough, which meant only a few of the lawmakers had time to read the actual bill. Not to mention propose and vote on amendments. But, given the short session it was unlikely to get through the process anyway.
Friction against the bill was from business interests who felt it didn’t address protection of businesses who wanted a drug-free workplace, and law enforcement.
Personal opinion: We’ve learned that when debating these bills, law enforcement has almost no useful input into the discussion. Their argument seems to be that since marijuana is illegal at the federal level, anyone involved with state-legal pot is a criminal therefore crime goes up when it becomes more available. Circular argument.
NM’s next chance is a year from now which means the first stores can open in Spring of 2022. Colorado can continue to collect profits and taxes from New Mexicans for another 2 years…