Las Cruces pharmacy wins appeal, allowed to sell cannabis despite school proximity

LAS CRUCES - A local drugstore was given the green light to sell cannabis to qualified medical patients and adults over 21 despite a neighboring school.

Following exhaustive public comment during Tuesday's meeting, the Las Cruces City Council voted to grant a request for a near-total variance to Mesilla Valley Pharmacy and Pharmtrue, allowing it an exemption from city code to sell retail cannabis despite falling within a 300-foot minimum buffer distance to a school. The New America School sits next door to the pharmacy's 227 South Main Street location.

Pharmtrue is the companion business to MVP that basically represents the cannabis and CBD side of the venture. Mesilla Valley Pharmacy already sells and compounds CBD products on site.

The council voted unanimously to approve the variance request, and at the same time reversed an April decision of the city planning and zoning commission. The 6-0 vote even included Mayor Ken Miyagishima, who has almost always been a lone dissenting voice on cannabis-related measures before the council.

District 2 Councilor Tessa Abeyta recused herself from the appeal hearing, since Pharmacy Manager Joaquin Acosta is her appointee on the planning and zoning commission. As part of her recusal, the councilor needed to step out of the meeting while the appeal was considered.

Following the council vote, and the subsequent raucous applause by attendees in support of MVP, Acosta told the Sun-News the result was surprising.

"We really didn't expect the outcome today," Acosta said. "We were just hoping to inspire our community to feel what we felt, and we really appreciate that they did and they showed up. I think city council understood the message."

Trey Howard, MVP's and Pharmtrue's chief financial officer, presented the business' argument under oath in front of the council.

Howard emphasized the section of the pharmacy which would sell cannabis was tucked away in a separate room in a corner of the building. He said there would be multiple layers of security in place to ensure the only people who receive cannabis are those who can legally purchase it, as well as security cameras monitoring every inch of the parking lot. He said the pharmacy already distributes controlled substances safely as part of its existing business model.

After the vote, Howard told the Sun-News he believed the number of supporters who showed up in the council chambers, some of whom spoke as medical cannabis patients themselves or patients who have been consulted on cannabis by the pharmacy staff, swayed the council.

Many attendees wore buttons to show support for the pharmacy, which were distributed ahead of the meeting by their staff and which were advertised on Facebook as being redeemable for free CBD at the pharmacy.

Acosta denied criticisms the pharmacy was essentially paying for support, saying they were lobbying their own crowd, but also told the Sun-News the offer had been retracted "to triple dot our lines" and avoid confusion.

Public commenters on both sides trotted out the typical arguments, attempting to sell city councilors on the medicinal benefits of cannabis or to convince them it contributed to drug addiction or endangered kids.

Danny Hartman, an MVP customer, said medical cannabis has helped him with his chronic pain. Though he qualified for a medical card, Hartman said he wouldn't have known how to properly use cannabis to treat his condition if not for conversations he had with MVP staff.

"We're concerned that students will be distracted, that they will just be watching (out classroom windows), they will be seeing who goes in and out," said New America School Superintendent and Principal Margarita Porter. New America primarily serves high school-aged students. "We just want to know that our students are safe."

"I want you to understand that the students at New America School are a very vulnerable population," said Roberta Stathis, vice president of the school's governing council.

Opponents also warned granting such an extreme variance could set a precedent that undermined the school buffer for cannabis retail.

Supporters of MVP argued a pharmacy run by trained professionals was perhaps one of the most worthy establishments to qualify for an exemption and that pharmacists were well suited to make sure people looking to maximize its medical benefits were doing so safely by curating the right doses and making sure it didn't interact with other prescriptions.

"If we continue to make it harder for the legal industry to be successful, the black market will continue to thrive," said District 4 City Councilor Johana Bencomo. "If there was any variance to be granted, I am not scared of any precedent because this is a pharmacy."

Acosta said Mesilla Valley Pharmacy could begin selling cannabis for adult-use by January, pending a state license approval.

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Michael McDevitt is a city and county government reporter for the Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-202-3205, mmcdevitt@lcsun-news.com or @MikeMcDTweets on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Mesilla Valley Pharmacy wins appeal, can sell cannabis despite New America School proximity