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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

NM Expands Cannabis Options to Treat Opioid Addiction

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Monday, June 10, 2019   

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Opioid-use disorder tops the list of several new qualifying conditions for people in New Mexico who want to enroll in the state's Medical Cannabis Program.

David Morgan, public information officer with the Department of Health, said New Mexico has reduced its drug-overdose mortality rate from second-highest in the nation to 17th. He said the Health Department believes expanding the qualifying conditions for cannabis use could help continue the state's downward trend.

"We are hoping that being able to add opioid-use disorder as a qualifying condition to the medical cannabis program can help further mitigate drug-overdose deaths in the state,” Morgan said.

At least eight other states, including California, recognize opioid dependency as a qualifying condition that some choose to treat using medical marijuana. Other medical conditions that now qualify in New Mexico are Alzheimer's disease, autism spectrum disorder, and three degenerative neurological disorders, including spinal muscular atrophy.

Morgan said all the new qualifying conditions are based on recommendations from the state's Medical Cannabis Advisory Board.

"To better help some patients out there be able to get some relief from their conditions that they may not be able to get otherwise through conventional medical means,” he said.

In their most recent session, New Mexico legislators again considered a bill to legalize marijuana for recreational use in the state, but it failed to gain enough support. Nonetheless, in April, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation to decrease penalties for marijuana possession from a criminal to a civil violation.


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