Amid pandemic, New Mexico forges path to legal cannabis

FILE - In this June 11, 2019, file photo, store manager Ruby Amsden, left, attends to medical marijuana customer and retired nurse Jan Stewart, who uses cannabis to relieve pain associated with her recovery from bone cancer and help with sleeping, at the Minerva medical cannabis dispensary in Santa Fe, N.M. An advisory board is recommending that New Mexico clear the way for licensed medical marijuana producers to grow more plants. The board during a meeting Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, voted in favor of a petition that sought to significantly increase the current plant count limit. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)

FILE - In this June 11, 2019 file photo Medical marijuana flowers await customers at the Minerva cannabis dispensary in Santa Fe, N.M. A panel of doctors and other health care professionals is recommending increasing the amount of marijuana that can be purchased by participants in New Mexico's medical cannabis program. The advisory board voted Monday, Nov. 16, 2020, in favor of nearly doubling the limit to 15 ounces over 90 days. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee,File)

FILE - This April 6, 2018 file photo shows the leaves of a marijuana plant inside Ultra Health's cultivation greenhouse in Bernalillo, N.M. A panel of doctors and other health care professionals is recommending increasing the amount of marijuana that can be purchased by participants in New Mexico's medical cannabis program. The advisory board voted Monday, Nov. 16, 2020, in favor of nearly doubling the limit to 15 ounces over 90 days. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)