Medical Marijuana Martyr Grinds New Mexico’s Program
When the New Mexico Legislature passed the Lynn & Erin Compassionate Use Act two years ago, laying the foundation for a state-administrated medical cannabis program, epidemiologist and pot grower Bernie Ellis was ecstatic because it mirrored suggestions (.doc) he’d made to Gov. Gary Johnson several years earlier.
Now, however, Ellis has concluded (.doc) that the policy makers in the Department of Health are either uninformed or in passive opposition to the program.
Ellis has been growing medical cannabis for more than 20 years, even while serving as a health official with several government entities, including managing a substance abuse research program for the state of New Mexico.
“My personal history seems to be a contradiction in terms,”Ellis tells SFR in a phone interview from his farm in Tennessee. “On the one hand as a public health professional I am well aware that our country is awash in serious substance abuse. On the other hand, as a lifelong cannabis user and provider, I am aware for the most part cannabis provides many more benefits than it has detrimental effects, particularly in the health care arena.”
In 2002, federal law enforcement raided Ellis’ farm in Tennessee. He was sentenced to probation rather than prison time following a large outpouring of public support, Ellis says. The medical marijuana martyr contacted SFR to share his thoughts on New Mexico’s system.
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