Medical marijuana is a hot topic, especially New Mexico’s trailblazing program to create a tightly regulated state program that helps patient acquire marijuana.

The New York Times highlighted New Mexico in it’s story over the weekend about the difficulty of state-based efforts to provide or allow the use of marijuana to treat illnesses. Topping the list of problems is that all uses of marijuana continue to be illegal under federal law.

The NYT story must have been filed before news that seven applications for new non-profits in New Mexico are about to be forwarded to NM Department of Health Secretary Alfredo Vigil for a final decision, as we reported last Friday.

We included a screen shot of the Santa Fe Institute of Natural Health’s website in which they describe the reason why they can’t travel to southern New Mexico to deliver medical marijuana to patients. Homeland Security has made it “clear, clear, clear” that they’ll confiscate it if they find it at checkpoints, said the Institute’s grower in the NYT:

…Despite a high-tech alarm system and the hidden location, the institute’s grower, who insisted on anonymity, said he constantly feared being robbed.

…

Delivering the marijuana can also be fraught with anxiety. The Department of Homeland Security informed the group that the former Marine who serves as courier could be prosecuted if stopped at any of several Border Protection checkpoints in southern New Mexico, where many clients live.

“Homeland Security made it clear, clear, clear,” the institute’s chief said. “Their directive is, ‘You got it, we confiscate it.’ ”

Also interesting in the NYT story was Secretary Vigil’s comment that there are bound to be problems along the way when developing a state-based program at odds with federal law:

“…If we do this in some uncontrolled fashion and some big bad thing happens, the whole program comes crashing down.”

But with the federal prohibition in place, he said his state’s program was a risk. “It’s a tricky situation in many, many ways,” he said. “As long as there’s a disconnect with the federal law, it’s guaranteed there will be problems along the way.”

It’s pretty clear that the people in New Mexico who manage the program, and who grow the product, are keeping a tight lid on the operation. The NMI has requested an interview with the owners of the Santa Fe Institute of Natural Medicine, but haven’t received a reply.