Albuquerque ends THC-lookalike sales- Jesse Jones, nm.news
The Albuquerque City Council voted 7-to-2 last night to ban the sale of synthetic THC-lookalike products, calling them a health risk and saying there’s no solid oversight.
The June 2 vote makes Albuquerque the first city in New Mexico to outlaw, making or selling hemp-based cannabinoids like Delta-8 and THC-A. Supporters say the move shuts down a legal loophole and keeps kids safe from unregulated products that often look like candy or wellness items. Critics argue it’s prohibition, hurting small businesses and people who use hemp as a milder alternative to marijuana. They also warn it could fuel a black market.
Now the big question is what happens next — will the mayor sign it and how will the city enforce it?
“This is a product that’s not regulated by the state, and it’s really poison, and it’s being sold to children,” Councilor Dan Lewis said.
Since 2022, New Mexicans have spent about $1 billion on legal, THC-containing cannabis after lawmakers and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham opened the market for adult use.
But the state’s underground marijuana trade is thriving. According to a KRQE investigation by Larry Barker, one industry expert estimated New Mexico’s black market tops $200 million a year, fueled in part by unlicensed marijuana lookalikes sold in gas stations and convenience stores.
“[Barker] did a really good job of explaining the product that’s sold in retail convenience stores around Albuquerque, it’s really marketed for children, it’s put in packages,” Lewis said. “It’s a synthetic product that oftentimes has a THC level that you’d find in other marijuana products that are regulated by the state.”
Cannabis and hemp may look the same, but they’re chemically different — hemp doesn’t get people high.
Products like Delta-8, Delta-10 and THC-A are made by altering hemp to boost its THC levels above the legal 0.3%. The ordinance says these products take advantage of a “derivatives loophole” in federal law, which allows hemp-derived cannabinoids with low Delta-9 THC but doesn’t regulate their conversion into intoxicating forms.
Lewis said the ordinance came in response to concerns from industry members and residents who urged the city to take action. He said the goal was to target the specific issue without interfering with the broader cannabis or hemp industries.
The ordinance focuses on retail sales, not personal use or possession, and aims to stop the sale of high-dose synthetic hemp products that often end up in gas stations and convenience stores with no age limits and kid-friendly packaging.
“If your business model is to market that high-dose and put it into the hands of retail, convenience stores, gas stations, and sell it to children and package it in a way where children could buy it, then that’s exactly what this bill has to do with,” Lewis said. “In fact, it doesn’t have any to do with the manufacturing of this product whatsoever.”
He called the products “poison” and pointed to the KRQE investigation showing how common they’ve become in Albuquerque.
Arguments for and against
Supporters of the ordinance backed Councilor Lewis’ concerns, saying unregulated hemp-derived products pose serious health risks, especially to kids. They’re often sold at gas stations with no age restrictions and packaged to look like candy.
“Having undefined chemicals in the marketplace with unknown safety profiles is a risk to not just children but everyone,” said Charles Villanueva, a chemist in the hemp industry.
Kimberly Sanchez Rael, president and CEO of SRE Wellness, a licensed hemp manufacturer in Albuquerque, also supported the ban. She said the 2018 Farm Bill wasn’t meant to open the door to high-dose intoxicating products. “I don’t believe congressional intent was ever to unleash these kinds of products into the channels they’re now in,” she said, adding that the ordinance is a needed step to rein things in locally.
While an update to the Farm Bill is expected to address how hemp is defined and regulated, supporters of the ordinance said Albuquerque couldn’t afford to wait.
The proposed federal changes would either ban these products or move them under existing state cannabis rules. Some hemp industry leaders also backed the city’s move, calling it a necessary step to protect public safety.
Critics say the ordinance will cost jobs, harm small businesses and eliminate products relied on by seniors, veterans and patients. They argue the hemp industry is already regulated and fear a growing black market.
Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn and Council President Brook Bassan were the two councilors who voted against the ordinance.
Fiebelkorn said she supports stronger rules to keep intoxicating hemp products away from kids, but pushed back on how the ordinance was being described and true regulation would involve setting rules like age limits or labeling requirements, not banning the sale outright.
“I just keep hearing that we want to regulate this industry, which I agree with,” she said. “But this is not a regulation — this is a prohibition on a product.”
Bassan said she supports keeping intoxicating hemp products away from kids but raised concerns about how the ordinance would be enforced.
“I absolutely want to keep children safe,” she said. “I’m concerned about the cart before the horse.”
Bassan questioned whether city departments have the resources and plans in place to inspect hemp businesses and test products. “Are they going to go into every hemp business in Albuquerque?” she asked.
She also asked how inspectors would know if a product exceeds the 0.3% THC threshold and how much it would cost the city to test products at outside labs, since the current crime lab lacks the necessary capabilities.
Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel said both Environmental Health and APD are still developing protocols, and that outside labs would likely be needed for testing.
Sengel said the Environmental Health Department is concerned about having the capacity to take on more businesses without knowing how many there will be.
“I think everyone is still in the fact-finding stage to figure out the impact,” she said, adding the administration would return to the council for funding if needed to carry out enforcement.
Lewis said the ordinance lays out clear requirements for signage and citations. “The same thing, if there was someone selling cocaine out of a gas station,” he said.
The city’s not sending officers to every store, Lewis said, but they’ll step in when there’s a complaint.
Still, Bassan pushed back.
“It’s not very clear to me,” she said. “There’s a whole bunch of gray areas. I’m concerned that while this is maybe really good intentioned, we’re going to end up having a potential to have to come back, as we have many other times, and have to retract the same thing that’s getting passed with good intention.”
City Desk ABQ reached out to the mayor’s office for comment on the ordinance banning sales of intoxicating hemp products.
“Preventing these products from being sold to kids is important, and we support that goal,” said Jeremy Dyer, marketing manager for the Environmental Health Department. “We still have questions about how enforcement will work, so we are evaluating.”
Mayor Tim Keller is reviewing the legislation and has up to 10 days to decide whether to sign or veto it.
New Mexico health officials report measles exposures in San Juan, Lea county hospitals- Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
The New Mexico Department of Health on Tuesday reported multiple measles exposures at hospitals in opposite corners of the state last week, including the first case recorded in San Juan County.
The state’s largest outbreak in more than 50 years now includes 81 cases, with more than 80% in Lea County, just across the state line from Gaines County, Texas, where the outbreak began. Since mid-February, health officials have recorded measles infections in seven counties: Lea, Eddy, Chaves, Curry, Doña Ana, Sandoval and now, San Juan.
The San Juan County case was a child under 4 years old, who had one dose of the measles vaccine, and contracted the infection on a domestic flight.
“Travel can increase the risk of exposure,” said NMDOH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Miranda Durham in a written statement. “Whether you’re traveling within the U.S. or abroad, before you go make sure you’re up to date on your vaccines.”
The Farmington exposures occurred at the on the following days and times:
- 10:30 p.m.-4:15 a.m. Monday, May 26 and Tuesday May 27: emergency room of the San Juan Regional Medical Center at 801 West Maple Street.
- 2- 4 p.m.: Wednesday, May 28: emergency room of the San Juan Regional Medical Center at 801 West Maple Street.
- 8:15-10:30 a.m. on Friday, May 30: San Juan Regional Medical Center Health Partners Pediatrics Clinic, 407 South Schwartz, Suite 102
In the state’s Southeast corner, an adult with an unknown vaccination status potentially exposed others in an Hobbs at the following location:
- 8:45 – 11:30 a.m on Tuesday, May 27: NorLea Hobbs Medical Clinic,1923 North Dal Paso Street.
Measles symptoms are generally milder in people with a vaccine, according to the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and vaccination decrease the risk of spreading it to other people.
Measles symptoms develop between one to three weeks after exposure. Symptoms usually start with fever, cough, runny nose and red eyes, followed by the spotty red rash on the head that spreads across the body. People can pass measles to someone several days before and after the rash appears.
NMDOH urges anyone with measles symptoms to stay home to prevent further spread and call the NMDOH Helpline at 1-833-796-8773 for further information in English or Spanish about symptoms, testing or vaccines.
Health officials said the best prevention is two doses of the vaccines, which are offered at no cost at 19 public health clinic offices around the state. Clinic locations can be found on the state’s measles webpage.
Fugitive sentenced to life for killing his wife near Alamogordo Algernon D’Ammassa, Albuquerque Journal
An Arkansas man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his wife near a state park south of Alamogordo in 2024.
Shaun LeFleur, 57, was convicted by an Otero County jury of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence, for burying her body, on May 23.
New Mexico State Police were approached by an unidentified witness on April 21, 2024, who said he found LeFleur digging a shallow grave for his wife, Nancy, 67. According to court filings, the couple had been camping unlawfully near Oliver Lee State Park.
Police came across the grave site and found Nancy LeFleur’s body wrapped in a tarp. The witness said Shaun LeFleur had confessed to shooting his wife execution-style after an argument, ordering her onto her knees before firing on her. An autopsy determined she died of three gunshot wounds to the head from a .22 caliber handgun.
LeFleur was later traced to the Cloudcroft area and taken into custody on charges of first-degree murder and felony tampering with evidence.
In seeking LaFleur’s detention ahead of trial, prosecutors presented evidence that LaFleur had a criminal history in 11 states and active arrest warrants in four, including New Mexico.
District Attorney Ryan Suggs' office described LeFleur as a Louisiana man in a news release, but his driver’s license at the time of his arrest was from Arkansas. The LeFleurs arrived in Otero County late in 2023, according to the DA's office, describing Shaun LeFleur as a fugitive from justice dragging his wife along.
LeFleur was convicted in Otero County Magistrate Court in September 2024 of battering Nancy LeFleur over a 2023 incident. That conviction came after his wife had been dead for five months.
The jury in the murder case convicted LeFleur following a four-day trial, per court records. Prosecutors dropped a third count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
State District Judge John P. Sugg followed the verdict with a sentence requiring LeFleur to serve his life sentence after serving the maximum sentence for the tampering charge, meaning he would be nearly 90 years old, at the earliest, before becoming eligible for parole.
According to the DA, Sugg remarked in court, "I don’t think you will live that long, you will die in the New Mexico Department of Corrections."
Monday downpour leaves at least one dead from flooding in Albuquerque - Nakayla McClelland and Matthew Reisen, Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico is gearing up for a wetter-than-usual start to June, with a series of Pacific storm systems ushering in widespread rainfall across much of the state.
The incoming moisture is already producing showers throughout the region and may bring severe storms to parts of eastern New Mexico from the beginning of the week until Saturday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Nicolas Porcelli.
“We can see a severe gust or two and some hail in far eastern New Mexico, like Curry County and Roosevelt County, and then for the next couple of days, it should remain pretty moist within the region,” Porcelli said.
A severe storm brought gusty winds and flash flooding to Albuquerque on Monday afternoon, inundating streets in the area of Mountain and 18th Street and Lomas Boulevard and Central Avenue. The city urged people to avoid those roadways through the early afternoon.
The downpour proved deadly for at least one person in the city as Albuquerque Fire Rescue pulled a body from a North Valley washout Tuesday evening. An AFR official said the person was initially spotted in the main diversion channel near Menaul but “was not seen again” until being recovered at the washout.
The afternoon showers are expected to generally stay under a quarter inch but Porcelli warned that any localized area with more than an inch of rain, particularly over the burn scars from recent wildfires, could cause damage in the form of rising rivers and flooded low-water crossings.
The wet weather comes amid a drought that prompted Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to sign an executive order last week declaring worrisome dry conditions and severe fire risk across the state.
“New Mexico’s river basins have seen below average precipitation this year, and our reservoir levels are among the lowest on record,” State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson wrote in the executive order.
Despite the increase in rainfall, temperatures will remain above average, between 80 to 90 degrees.
The following week another Pacific storm system will bring increased rainfall to the northern and western parts of New Mexico, which have been “dry the last few weeks,” Porcelli said.
“That should be pretty beneficial to them because a lot of fuels have been dry, so this should lower the fire threat that we’ve been seeing over the last couple of months,” he added.
However, the rainfall can also pose a danger to regions still scarred by recent wildfires, Porcelli said. Areas like the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak and Ruidoso burn scars remain highly susceptible to flash flooding.
“It usually takes five to ten years for the ground to recover after a fire,” Porcelli said. “The soil is still pretty hydrophobic. Even small amounts of rain can saturate the area and lead to flash floods.”
Looking ahead, New Mexico is expected to experience above-average rainfall and temperatures through June.
“We’re not in monsoon season just yet,” Porcelli said, and added that true monsoonal patterns typically develop with a high-pressure system over the desert southwest pulling in southern moisture — more likely to occur in late June or July.
Study: NM university students' views diverge over campus free-speech climate — Roz Brown, New Mexico News Connection
A new study revealed free speech is increasingly under threat on college campuses, from both right and left.
The nonpartisan, nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression surveyed 58,000 college students, asking them about campus culture as it relates to comfort expressing ideas, tolerance for speakers, disruptive conduct, openness and self-censorship.
Sean Stevens, chief research adviser for the foundation, said assaults on speech come from all sides.
"It's not just left-leaning faculty or students going after more conservative faculty and students," Stevens observed. "It's now with the federal government and whatever right-wing faculty there might be left, and the students going after left-leaning speech."
The University of Virginia is the top-ranked school for free speech, with an overall score of 73. New Mexico State ranked "above average" with a score of 58, while the University of New Mexico was "below average" with a score of 35. In the report, the University of New Mexico was among 21 institutions cited for attempts to keep controversial conservative speakers or events from taking place on its campus.
Schools struggled to uphold free speech rights as dueling protests overtook many college campuses in 2024. Stevens noted the Trump administration's crackdown on universities and international students, ostensibly in the name of fighting antisemitism, has raised the stakes.
"There's a much bigger cause for concern, because now it's also coming from the government," Stevens pointed out. "Faculty really need to step up, because students are rightfully concerned that if they say the wrong thing, that the hammer might come down on them."
The data show an uptick around 2020 in punishments for speech and expression around the topic of police violence toward African Americans. Since then, other issues have taken center stage, including sexual harassment, abortion rights, transgender rights and the Israel-Gaza war.
NM’s U.S. senators to Noem: Reform FEMA. Don’t scrap it entirely. - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
New Mexico’s two U.S. senators are calling on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to fix rather than abolish the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as she and other prominent officials have called for recently.
Democratic U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján wrote Noem a letter Monday outlining problems FEMA could fix, particularly regarding its response to wildfires and their aftermath, but also defending the agency as necessary to help people recover from disasters.
“We want to emphasize that serious, targeted reform is the answer to these pressing problems – not dismantling FEMA altogether,” the senators wrote. “The federal government has an important role to play in assisting state and local governments in the wake of natural disasters.”
Noem previously said she was devising ways to eliminate FEMA. She has backed off that language, though her department has cut billions of dollars in disaster resilience grants, including a $4 million allocation to New Mexico.
The letter notes that states and local governments don’t have adequate money to pay for increasingly expensive disasters. In New Mexico, for example, a FEMA formula calculates the state can withstand only about $4 million in disaster costs before it needs the federal government to step in.
When it comes to reforming the agency, the senators’ letter points repeatedly to the 2022 Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire near Las Vegas, the biggest fire in state history. Since the fire, every rainstorm threatens to become a flash flood or debris flow that causes further damage. FEMA is not well-equipped to handle those kinds of scenarios, the senators wrote.
“Western states face a distinct and growing threat: namely, catastrophic wildfires followed by cascading disasters such as landslides, flooding, and water system failures that compound damage and slow recovery,” the senators wrote. “These cascading events—which can happen years after an initial fire—are devastating, and FEMA has repeatedly struggled to respond effectively.”
The post-fire flooding in Las Vegas has continued each year since 2022, particularly in the summer monsoon season, after the fire destroyed vegetation and degraded the soil. The flooding has prompted the city to postpone the construction of a new water treatment plant, and caused the cancellation of Fiestas last summer, which is the single biggest annual event in Las Vegas.
“As a result of these floods, the business community lost out on their largest income-generating event of the year,” the senators wrote.
FEMA needs to improve its handling of “cascading events,” allowing disaster grant recipients to rebuild infrastructure equipped to handle future disasters, not just to their pre-disaster capacity. At the moment, FEMA’s Public Assistance program will only fully reimburse local governments and other public entities for the cost of rebuilding infrastructure such as bridges and culverts to the same size and specifications as they were before the wildfire.
“While we understand the intent behind these rules—to restore essential infrastructure equitably—they do not adequately address the unique and escalating risks associated with post-wildfire environments,” they wrote.
FEMA should also increase its disaster assistance to individuals and families, the senators wrote. During the 2022 wildfire, the maximum people could receive from FEMA, even if they lost their primary residence and all it contained, was about $37,000.
The senators asked the agency to increase the payments, especially in light of challenges people in fire-prone areas face securing insurance. FEMA typically does not pay disaster victims if they have private insurance, but home insurance is becoming prohibitively expensive or is completely unavailable in areas like Mora and Ruidoso after wildfires there last summer.
“FEMA must adapt its policies and funding levels and work with other federal agencies to meet the needs of those who fall into this widening gap and ensure that recovery is possible for those who, through no fault of their own, can’t obtain insurance,” Heinrich and Luján wrote.
Lawmaker asks U.S. attorney to intervene in New Mexico common lands case – Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
A state lawmaker is asking the top federal prosecutor in New Mexico to reopen a case that allowed the American government to take millions of acres of commonly owned land promised to New Mexicans in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Rep. Miguel Garcia (D-Albuquerque) on May 28 sent a letter to U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Ryan Ellison asking him to reopen a 128-year-old court case called United States v. Sandoval.
Garcia is asking Ellison to attend one of this year’s interim legislative Land Grant Committee hearings, at which land grant attorney Narciso Garcia will present the legal arguments and questions surrounding the case to either Ellison or his designee, and the committee will ask him to intervene.
Last Friday, at the committee’s first meeting since this year’s legislative session, Garcia said he took it upon himself to make the request, and that Ellison’s office is deliberating how to respond to it.
Ellison’s office declined to comment.
The case deals with commonly owned land — locally managed lands meant to sustain communities — in seven areas in New Mexico granted by the Spanish Empire and later recognized by Mexican law.
The justices ruled that the common lands were actually owned by the Spanish Empire, and therefore became the U.S. government’s property as a result of the the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the end of the Mexican-American War.
During this period, land speculators, including U.S. government officials, took advantage of adverse U.S. Supreme Court decisions to defraud communities of their common lands, Arturo Archuleta, director of the New Mexico Land Grant Council and the University of New Mexico Land Grant-Merced Institute, told the committee.
The Sandoval decision resulted in the seven land grants shrinking from an average of 450,000 acres to 1,500 acres, Garcia wrote.
He wrote that the ruling was a travesty of justice, and told the committee that it resulted in the depopulation of some land grant communities who could no longer herd as many cattle and sheep or produce as many forestry products.
“This was devastating for these communities because this is what brought on poverty in our state,” Garcia told the committee. “This is a good example of how our land grant communities were turned from a vibrant, self-sustaining community to an impoverished community.”
Garcia attached to the letter a 2018 working paper written by John Mitchell, who argues that after Mexico ceded the Territory of New Mexico to the U.S., Congress failed to incorporate it and allowed a temporary government to grant common lands to the inhabitants, which took away jurisdiction from the U.S. Supreme Court concerning land titles in the territory.“Ultimately, the decision still belongs to the New Mexico Supreme Court who could hold that the de facto government did in fact grant common lands under existing law,” Mitchell wrote.
Former NM Veteran’s Department cabinet secretary seeks Secretary of State seat - Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Sonya Smith, a veteran and former New Mexico cabinet member, will officially announce her 2026 run for New Mexico Secretary of State later this week.
The secretary of state operates the state’s elections, keeps official records for the state government and is third in succession behind the governor and lieutenant governor. Term limits bar current Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, finishing her second consecutive term, from running again.
Smith will be the third candidate seeking the Democratic nomination in the June 2, 2026 primary election, alongside Doña Ana County Clerk Amanda Lopez Askin and Santa Fe County Clerk Katharine Clark. As yet, no Republican candidates have announced runs for the office.
Trump administration efforts to change election rules, such as requiring proof of citizenship and changes to mail-in ballots, motivated Smith’s campaign, she told Source NM.
“The biggest threat to elections is people feeling safe and secure and that their right to vote is protected,” Smith said. “Our vote is our voice, and what we’re facing right now is the elimination of that.”
Smith received a bachelor’s in health services management from Norfolk State University and a master’s degree in health care compliance from Argosy University. She served as a combat medic with the United States Air Force Reserve in the first Gulf War, and worked in state health care before joining the New Mexico Department of Health, guiding the agency’s COVID-19 testing team. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Smith to lead the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services as its cabinet secretary in October 2020. She stepped down in November 2022, citing the need to care for her mother in her home state of Virginia. Smith returned to New Mexico after her mother’s death a few months ago.
Smith said her experience in election administrations is limited to “just being a voter,” but said her work in the Lujan Grisham administration gave her the necessary leadership skills required, including relationships to pass stronger legislation.
“I believe that my experience as a former cabinet secretary with statewide experience is just as valuable as having clerking experience,” Smith said.
According to the latest campaign finance records, Smith reported no donations or campaign expenses. She’ll formally announce her candidacy at an event Thursday.