NM Judge Orders Detention Facility to Allow Inmate Use of Medical Marijuana

New Mexico offender Joe Montano was removed from house arrest and thrown in jail after officials found him with legal medical marijuana. Later, a district judge ruled against it, ordering the Bernalillo County Detention Center to allow marijuana use among every inmate in their custody. ​

Joe Montano plead guilty to DWI in October of 2019. He was sentenced to 90 days but instead of jail, was permitted to do house arrest. They found him with medical the very next month and he was forced to serve the rest of his sentence in jail. He was released in January of last year. 

In July, Dstrict Judge Lucy Solimon overturned all that, and ordered the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center not to penalize inmates in their custody or under their supervision, for medical marijuana use as covered under an amendment to the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act. 

The ruling said: “[a] person who is serving a period of probation or parole or who is in the custody or under the supervision of the state or a local government pending trial as part of a community supervision program shall not be penalized for conduct allowed under the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act.”

Montano’s lawyer, who is also a New Mexico State Senator, made clear that all inmates should be able to use their approved legal medicine, and that the government should also fund it just like anything else. 

“I absolutely do believe that jail and prison facilities have the responsibility to provide that medical care if it’s ordered by a physician, period,” Candelaria told the Albuquerque Journal. 

County attorneys had argued that use was a violation of statute, as marijuana is still illegal federally, and inmates are required to follow city, county, state and federal laws. So far, the MDC has stated that it will comply. 

We don’t know how all this will ultimately go, but agree that it’s great to see people winning against structural biases in court and at the ballot box. People all over the country are waking up to the restorative powers of medical marijuana. 

We’re thrilled to see thousands casting off archaic propaganda, and exercising their legal rights to choose. They’re choosing personal freedoms, better medicine, and physical, mental and emotional elevation with one of the oldest folk remedies in the world. 

We’re ready if you’re ready. 

Click here and get your medical marijuana card today!
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