Coming soon: Big Buddha’s Cheese. But in the meantime, New Mexico’s sole licensed nonprofit medical cannabis producer is all out of product.

Marjorie Childress at the New Mexico Independent is reporting that the Santa Fe Institute for Natural Medicine has already sold out. Childress cites an unnamed medical cannabis patient who provided an alert from the SFINM Web site:

8/28/09 PRODUCT UPDATE

We are currently sold out of our inventory. Not knowing what members would like, our first crop was 50/50 indica dominant/sativa dominant. And although we are so sorry to run out, we now know that members prefer sativa dominant. We will try and adjust our proportions accordingly so this does not happen again. Also, please keep in mind that it takes 12-18 months for a smooth running ongoing production. This is especially tricky when it is a pilot project and mother nature is involved. We very much appreciate your patience.

Come October, we hope to introduce Big Buddha’s Cheese, Chocolope, and Kandy Kush to the menu. More details will come in September.

Everyone from Tennessee-grower Bernie Ellis to former state medical cannabis program coordinator Melissa Milam have complained that the 95-plant limit the DOH has imposed on nonprofit growers is far too small to handle the statewide patient demand. What compounds the problem is DOH Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil could not tell SFR when he thinks a second nonprofit grower/distributor will be granted a license.

To date there are 20 outstanding applications filed by nonprofit entities wishing to offer legal medical cannabis to patients. There are 540 patients registered with the program, only about a fifth are licensed to grow for themselves.

NMI’s glimpse into the private SFINM web site confirms that New Mexico patients are paying street prices for cannabis: “The top grade is $378 an ounce, the middle grade is $336, and the bottom grade…is $182 an ounce.”

Photo by Mallorie Gura

Gov. Bill Richardson wasn’t too happy with College of Santa Fe’s Board of Trustees who, yesterday, released a press release that the Governor’s office felt implied that the Governor was partly to blame for CSF’s current financial emergency.

CSF’s release stated that, “As part of their letter of agreement with CSF, New Mexico Highlands University proposed purchasing land from the college to pay off the mortgage and provide CSF critical funds to complete the spring semester. Last Thursday, CSF learned that Governor Richardson requested this land purchase be delayed until after the legislative session, eliminating this important revenue stream for the college’s spring semester. ‘We understand the challenges that the state, Governor Richardson, and our legislature are facing due to the economy.  We are seeking a meeting with Governor Richardson to ask that he reconsider this decision,’ said David Chase, chair of the Board of Trustees.”

Richardson’s office fought back stating, “’I was disappointed that it appeared the school’s leaders were looking for scapegoats at a time when they should be addressing their responsibility for the institution’s troubled finances.’”

Richardson’s statement echoes the sentiments of many members of the CSF community who are outraged about the lack of accountability for the current financial situation.

In an open letter posted in the comments section of this blog a current CSF student using the name Red Cell stated, “We at the school have come to expect (but not deserve) deceit from all in charge of funds, overblown positive speeches and rallying communications that tells us nothing, the mistreatment, and now punishment, of teachers and staff that must bear the weight of the Board’s mismanagement, the loss of teachers who were the reason to have attended the school in the first place (ie: Brent Kliewer etc) and no money for classroom use due to misappropriation of funds.”

HB577, the bill that would allow for the acquisition of the College of Santa Fe, goes before the House Educational Committee Friday morning at 8 am.

Richardson has been a strong proponent for the passage of the bill since it was sponsored by Rep. Lucky Varela last fall. “’My administration and I are aggressively pursuing every option to save the College of Santa Fe and preserve it as one of our state’s great educational assets,” Richardson says in today’s statement.

Tomorrow’s meeting is the first step for the bill, which must pass through both the House Educational Committee and the Appropriations & Finance Committee before it reaches the full House for a vote.

However the current situation for faculty and students is still up in the air. Richardson says “It was irresponsible for the College of Santa Fe to count on the money from the proposed land sale to avoid the crisis it finds itself in today. While I appreciate New Mexico Highlands University’s interest in the College of Santa Fe, it would be imprudent to approve any transactions until the legislature agrees that an acquisition of the college is in the best interest of the state and until we determine which institution is most appropriate to take it over.”

All that waiting doesn’t answer students questions about what happens tomorrow when the contract renegotiations are slated to start between the board and faculty. As the situations stands now the faculty is consulting a lawyer after a 29-9 vote about whether to pursue civil fraud charges against the school’s administration and board upon learning of the declaration of financial emergency and contract amendments.

As SFR reported yesterday this, according to CSF professor Richard Bank, means that as of Friday all contract employees will be terminated, putting the faculty in the difficult position of fighting for their salaries while remaining loyal to the students who are five weeks into the spring semester.

[Disclosure: Patricia Sauthoff is a contract employee with the College of Santa Fe and is included in recent mass layoffs.]