Pot for pooches? It could happen in New Mexico, where activists are lobbying to expand the state’s medical marijuana program to cover ailing dogs. 

The Associated Press is reporting that the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Advisory Board will take up a pair of petitions at its meeting next month to expand the qualifying medical conditions for medical cannabis. One petition is conventional: it calls for the program to extend to people with attention deficit disorder.

A panel of legislators delved into the uncertain market economics of legalizing recreational marijuana and thorny concerns about public health on Wednesday, in a prelude to a rapid-fire legislative session that could open the doors to recreational cannabis in New Mexico.

A legalization work group assembled by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is pitching an oversight system that would limit state and local taxes on recreational marijuana to roughly 17% and license producers for as little as $500 a month with additional per-plant fees.

Below is a statement from Emily Kaltenbach, New Mexico State Director and Senior Director of Criminal Justice Reform Strategy for the Drug Policy Alliance, who served on the Governor’s working group on cannabis legalization, in response to the 

A proposal unveiled Wednesday for legal marijuana sales throughout New Mexico would use taxes to subsidize medical pot purchases for low-income patients and set aside money for police and loans to cannabis startup companies.

A panel appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, published recommendations for legalization that take cues from other states that regulate recreational marijuana markets.

The legal marijuana industry is budding before our eyes. What had once been considered a taboo industry that was swept under the rug by lawmakers has now become a front-and-center issue, as well as a big-time moneymaker for investors and companies involves in the pot industry.

Understanding the effects of cannabis is crucial to determining the legal status of the substance, which is still a schedule I drug in the Controlled Substances Act. In learning more about cannabis, researchers from The University of New Mexico (UNM) recently examined its use as a pain reliever. According to the results of their study, on a scale of 0 to 10, the pain level of the user decreased by approximately three points with the use of cannabis.

A hearing officer has endorsed key provisions of a plan designed to shore up cannabis supplies to New Mexico’s medical marijuana program without flooding the expanding market, according to recommendations released on Friday.

State Health Department Secretary Kathyleen Kunkel now has the final say on whether to limit medical cannabis cultivation to 1,750 mature plants per producer. In recommendations released Friday, that production cap was endorsed by an official assigned to monitor public hearings in July.

Dozens of medical cannabis producers in the state are divided on whether the proposed plant limits will ensure adequate supplies to patients.