State Representative Bill McCamley Wants to Legalize Marijuana in New Mexico

New Mexico House of Representative Bill McCamley has been working for a couple of years to legalize marijuana in New Mexico. A trip to Denver opened his eyes and changed his opinion from being part of the opposition to becoming a supporter. He says that in the illegal drug industry money is going to drug cartels rather than taxes for education.

It may take some time, but McCamley intends on taking the necessary steps to move New Mexico toward legalization, according to Las Cruces Sun-News. This is just one of the bold moves he wants to make in New Mexico. Some financially unstable communities and failing school districts could use marijuana tax dollars to help stabilize them.

McCamley said, “The funny thing is, I don’t even smoke marijuana. I don’t use it at all. But when you look at the real issues… I can go drink a bottle of Jack Daniels and die. Remember that kid that died at one of the bars here in town? You can’t die on marijuana. The overwhelming evidence is this being good public policy. And so I put the bill in, and that’s all anyone wants to talk about. And it was really making me uncomfortable because I’m doing all this other stuff. And my ex-boss, Mellow (Honek), said ‘just own it. It’s the right thing to do. It’s very popular and you’re going to get it done eventually. So just own it.’”

McCamley wants the public to see the other measures he’s working on, not just his efforts to legalize marijuana.