By KRWG News
New Mexico – A House committee has shelved a proposal to tax medical marijuana in New Mexico.
The measure would impose a 25 percent tax on the production value of marijuana grown for medical purposes.
A 2007 law allows people with certain medical conditions to get relief by using marijuana and about 1,000 patients are registered with the state.
The House Taxation and Revenue Committee voted 14-to-1 to table the bill, which likely dooms the measure for the session.
Lawmakers heard from a medical marijuana patient and others that the tax would raise prices and cause patients to start buying marijuana on the streets through the black market. A state-licensed producer from Santa Fe said he sold marijuana for $280 or $360 an ounce.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.