The Las Cruces City Council approved additional legislative priorities Tuesday, including supporting the legalization of cannabis and the need for additional early childhood education funding.
In a 6-1 vote, the Las Cruces City Council approved a resolution advocating for the legalization of cannabis in New Mexico. The resolution of support will be sent to the state legislature, where City Policy Analyst Christopher Dunn says legislation is expected to be introduced.
“I reached out to many of the senators and representatives that have previously sponsored legislation in New Mexico, to try to understand what 2021 legislation might look like,” Dunn said. “And with that, I found out that Representative Javier Martínez and Senator Ivey-Soto are both expected to introduce bills in this legislative session.”
Last year, House Bill 160 and Senate Bill 115 were introduced in an attempt to legalize cannabis, but neither gained enough support to pass.
Councilor Gabe Vasquez is hopeful legislation will pass in 2021, saying it will lead to greater economic prosperity for Las Cruces. He cited a preliminary study indicating 40% of state revenue from cannabis would come from neighboring Texas.
“What that means for us as the closest community, or the closest large city I should say, to the Texas city hub that's going to be buying these products is Las Cruces, and so again this is a huge economic opportunity for our community, for our county,” Vasquez said. “When we talk about diversifying our economy—if we don't do things differently, if we don't think outside the box and if we are last to do this, then we can't keep making excuses about how we don't bring in new industry.”
Mayor Ken Miyagishima stood in opposition to legalization.
“I think it's ill advised. I think it's wrong to profit off of a product that really alters the mind and the body,” Miyagishima said. “I do support medical use, medicinal use. It took me a while to go to that, but I do, and I have for the last several years. And the last thing is, I just think it's going to lead to increased DUI, driving under the influence, because it's going to cause, hopefully not, but I think it could cause some serious accidents.”
Councilor Yvonne Flores says that while she personally is against the consumption of cannabis, legalization will bring positive change for the Las Cruces community.
“I personally do not support the use of cannabis on a recreational basis, but I do believe that people should have that option,” Flores said. “It's going to be a boost to our economy. If there's no other reason to legalize it, we should look at that. If people don't like to smoke it, or otherwise ingest marijuana, so be it.”
The city council also unanimously passed a resolution in support of expanding early childhood education services. City Policy Analyst Christopher Dunn spoke about the current state of New Mexico’s early childhood education system.
“Unfortunately, New Mexico consistently ranks among the worst states in the nation, in terms of opportunities and performance for early childhood education,” Dunn said. “One example of this is the Quality Counts report card, which ranks states on opportunities and performance, and their most recent ranking ranked New Mexico 51 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.”
In 2020, the state legislature passed a bill allowing for the creation of the Early Childhood Education and Care Fund, a $300 million appropriation from the general fund. Dunn stressed more funding is needed in order to adequately support early childhood education efforts in New Mexico.
“Despite the benefits that this fund will allow, more funding is really needed in order to recognize the gains that are generated by access to high quality early childhood education and care,” Dunn said. “And that's why this resolution is asking for additional disbursements from theLand Grant PermanentFund.”
Councilor Gill Sorg spoke out in support of providing more funding for early childhood education, highlighting the need to fix the state’s education system.
“As the rankings show, we're in a dismal situation,” Sorg said. “And there's no reason why, with the funding we have in the savings account, [we] couldn't have a first-class early childhood education for every child in New Mexico…the best education in the whole country. If we just put our minds to it, give the funding and work on this.”
Both Congress and New Mexico voters will need to approve the funding measure if the proposal passes in the New Mexico Legislature.
