Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a pair of bills into law last week amending the state’s medical cannabis program to expand patients’ access to the plant and to provide additional legal protections.

One month after policymakers failed to pass a bill legalizing marijuana in the state, New Mexico has signed into effect a law to decriminalize cannabis. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham authorized the legislation, which will reduce the punishment for possession of up to a half ounce of weed from up to 15 days in jail to a fee of $50.

The Senate passed SB 323 in March by a vote of 30 to 8. The House took its time deliberating over some Judiciary Committee amendments, eventually approving the legislation mere hours before its session concluded.

Yesterday Senate Bill 406 passed the Senate Floor (33-2). The measure, sponsored by Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino (D-Bernalillo) seeks to and expand access to medical cannabis in New Mexico. Currently many medical cannabis patients still face discrimination and lack access to their medicine.

Statement from Senator Ortiz y Pino:

Often in the media, general conversations about marijuana’s medicinal benefits reduce the plant’s 100-plus cannabinoids to a focus of one — cannabidiol, or CBD, as it’s commonly referred. CBD is non-psychoactive, presenting an easier entry point for new users while THC includes the intoxicating “high” cannabis is known for. One reductive consensus you might hear is that CBD contains all the good therapeutic value of cannabis, while THC includes virtually known and only benefits those who want to get high.

A group of researchers from the University of New Mexico have found that scientists may have been mistaken about the chemicals that are most and least associated with marijuana's medicinal properties, writes Calvin Hughes.

THC is the compound in marijuana best-known for creating the signature high you get after consuming cannabis. And most of the time, THC is disregarded as having any medicinal properties. Instead, the medicinal properties of marijuana are usually attributed to CBD, a cannabis compound that does not have any intoxicating effects. That may not be the case though, as new research suggests these common assumptions about THC and CBD could be wrong.

In New Mexico, recreational cannabis is coming closer to reality. Two separate bills—one sponsored by House Democrats, the other by Senate Republicans—were recently approved by committees. The variations between the two pieces of legislature serve to illustrate a growing divide on how marijuana legalization should proceed.

Today Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino (D-Bernalillo) introduced SB406 to expand access to medical cannabis in New Mexico.