Cannabis seizures at checkpoints by US-Mexico border frustrate state-authorized pot industry

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Cannabis seizures at checkpoints by US-Mexico border frustrate state-authorized pot industry

2024-04-20 03:33 Last Updated At：03:40

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Border Patrol is asserting its authority to seize cannabis shipments — including commercial, state-authorized supplies — as licensed cannabis providers file complaints that more than $300,000 worth of marijuana has been confiscated in recent months at highway checkpoints in southern New Mexico.

New Mexico's Democratic governor says the disruptions prompted a discussion this week with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose impeachment charges were dismissed this week. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says she voiced concerns that the scrutiny of cannabis companies appears to be greater in New Mexico than states with regulated markets that aren't along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Authorized cannabis sales in New Mexico have exceeded $1 billion since regulation and taxation of the recreational market began two years ago. Yet cannabis transport drivers say they have been detained hours while supplies are seized at permanent Border Patrol checkpoints that filter inbound traffic for unauthorized migrants and illegal narcotics, typically located about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the U.S. border.

“Secretary Mayorkas assured the governor that federal policies with respect to legalized cannabis have not changed,” said Lujan Grisham spokesperson Michael Coleman in an email. “Regardless, the governor and her administration are working on a strategy to protect New Mexico’s cannabis industry.”

Managers at 10 cannabis businesses including transporters last week petitioned New Mexico's congressional delegation to broker free passage of shipments, noting that jobs and investments are at stake, and that several couriers have been sidelined for “secondary inspection” and fingerprinted at Border Patrol checkpoints.

“We request that operators who have had product federally seized should be allowed to either get their product returned or be monetarily compensated for the losses they've sustained," the letter states.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said the Department of Homeland Security should be focused on urgent priorities that don't include cannabis suppliers that comply with state law.

“Stopping the flow of illicit fentanyl into our country should be the Department of Homeland Security’s focus at these checkpoints, not seizing cannabis that’s being transported in compliance with state law," the senator said in a statement, referring to the parent agency for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. "New Mexicans are depending on federal law enforcement to do everything they can to keep our communities safe. Our resources should be used to maximize residents’ safety, not distract from it.”

A public statement Thursday from the U.S. Border Patrol sector overseeing New Mexico provided a reminder that cannabis is still a “Schedule 1” drug, a designation also assigned to heroin and LSD.

"Although medical and recreational marijuana may be legal in some U.S. States and Canada, the sale, possession, production and distribution of marijuana or the facilitation of the aforementioned remain illegal under U.S. federal law," the agency's statement said. “Consequently, individuals violating the Controlled Substances Act encountered while crossing the border, arriving at a U.S. port of entry, or at a Border Patrol checkpoint may be deemed inadmissible and/or subject to, seizure, fines, and/or arrest."

Matt Kennicott, an owner of Socorro-based High Maintenance, a cannabis business, said seizures by Border Patrol started in February without warning and create uncertainty about shipments that include samples for consumer-safety testing. He said cannabis producers in southernmost New Mexico rely on testing labs farther north, on the other side of Border Patrol checkpoints, to comply with safeguards against contaminants like mold or pesticides.

“It's not a little confusing, it's a lot confusing,” he said. “We're trying to figure out where this directive came from.”

Time is on their side: Rolling Stones rock New Orleans Jazz Fest after 2 previous tries

2024-05-03 09:26 Last Updated At：09:32

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is usually akin to a 14-ring musical circus — a variety of musical acts playing simultaneously on stages spread throughout the sprawling infield and grandstand of a historic horse racing track.

That changed Thursday afternoon, when 13 stages went silent as The Rolling Stones made their first appearance at the 54-year-old festival.

“We didn’t want to have 13 empty stages and no people in front of them when the Stones start singing favorites like ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ and ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash,’ ” festival producer Quint Davis told The Associated Press ahead of the festival. “Everyone who bought a ticket for that day primarily bought one to see The Stones.”

Jazz Fest is the second stop for the Stones on their Hackney Diamonds tour, launched in support of the well-received album they released last year, their first album of original material in 18 years. They had been scheduled to appear at the 50th Jazz Fest in 2019 but had to cancel because of Mick Jagger's heart surgery. A subsequent planned appearance was scrubbed in 2021 when the festival was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The band opened its performance at Jazz Fest with its high-energy “Start Me Up,” drawing a loud roar from the crowd, which touched the front of the stage and spread to the track at the back of the field.

“We're so pleased to be in New Orleans, and we're so pleased to be playing here, at Jazz Fest,” Jagger told the crowd, who roared again in response.

The band also gave fans “Out of Time" before bringing on Zydeco accordionist Dwayne Dopsie, who played with them on “Let It Bleed.”

They then brought New Orleans' Queen of Soul Irma Thomas to the stage to sing a duet of “Time Is On My Side,” to the delight of the crowd.

Thomas’ earlier 1964 version of the song inspired a cover later that year by The Stones, garnering them their first top 10 hit in the U.S.

Midway through the set, Jessie Cameron, 53, of New Orleans, said she thought they were doing a great job entertaining the crowd.

“I'm a huge fan and have been since I was 10 years old. My mom loved him, and my first crush was Mick Jagger.” said Cameron, who works with autistic children.

When the gates opened under an overcast sky and slight breeze, hundreds of fans poured onto the festival grounds, most wearing T-Shirts with the Rolling Stones' signature “lips with tongue out” logo or one emblazoned with just the band's name.

“I was torn between seeing them before they die or seeing them before I do,” Nathan “Bam” Schulman, 75, an acupuncturist from Eugene, Oregon, said laughing.

Schulman said he had seen the Stones perform years ago in Oakland, California, but looked forward to Thursday's performance.

“They're such an inspiration,” he said. “I look back at them and remember a time of adventure, a time of being whoever you want to be, a time of being myself and when we'd say ‘Screw the establishment.’ They inspire me to keep on living.”

Vickie Clay, 38, who works in the auto industry in New Orleans, said seeing the Stones in person “was on her bucket list.”

“It will be my first time seeing them," she said. "I hope Mick Jagger does his ‘chicken dance’ moves, but whatever he does will be worth every penny.”

Kerry Dantzig, 54, of San Francisco, said she regularly attends Jazz Fest “for the food, for the music and to meet up with old friends.”

“I'm hoping Mick and the Stones sound good,” said a smiling Dantzig, who works in the insurance industry. “I mean, they're 80 years old, you know? Still, I can't wait to see Mick Jagger shaking his caboose.”

Henri Lellouche, 63, a retired advertising executive from Fairfield, Connecticut, said he has seen the band perform previously and added that it was a good idea to combine them with Jazz Fest.

“I haven't heard a lot of their new stuff. But I love the older music, the blues tinge, and I love watching them perform. I mean it's hard to believe they're the same age as Joe Biden,” he said.

Thursday's weather forecast for the festival held true. Light drops of rain fell about an hour into the set. But that didn't stop the performance.

“You Can't Always Get What You Want,” prompted those in the crowd to sing along and dance amid the drizzles. Dr. Heidi Lovett, 53, an HIV/AIDS researcher in New Orleans, said she was waiting to hear that one.

“I like that they're a cross-generational band and that they're nine years older than I am,” she said of the Stones, smiling. “That song, though, is a replica of what life really is.”

The band also gave fans performances of their hits “Honky Tonk Women,” “Miss You,” “Gimme Shelter,” “Jumpin' Jack Flash" and, after a brief respite, came back on stage to sing “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” and closed with “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction,” their first No. 1 hit in the U.S.