Senate panel halts measure to let voters decide on legal pot
Posted: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 7:00 pm | Updated: 12:31 am, Wed Feb 12, 2014.
Senate panel halts measure to let voters decide on legal pot
By Steve Terrell The SantaFeNewMexican.com
A proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana didn’t make it out of a state Senate committee Tuesday, and all sides agree that means New Mexico voters in November likely won’t get to vote on whether this state should follow Colorado and Washington state in legalizing, taxing and regulating the drug.
The measure, Senate Joint Resolution 10, sponsored by state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, met an impasse in the Senate Rules Committee. There, five Democratic senators voted to pass the resolution on to the Senate Judiciary Committee with no recommendation. However, Sen. Clemente Sanchez, D-Grants, joined all four committee Republicans to vote against that move.