The question, which asked whether penalties for the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana should be reduced to a $25 fine, passed with about 60 percent of the vote.
The result itself will not change any laws; as an advisory question, it was only intended to gauge public opinion and give voters the opportunity to let their elected officials know how they feel about the issue.
ProgressNowNM, in collaboration with Drug Policy Action, created the original petition to put the question on the ballot and spearheaded the campaign, which went through many twists and turns.
ProgressNowNM organizer Rachael Maestas said the results should send a clear message to county and state lawmakers that the people of the state want this change.
“It’s been quite a battle. We’ve been to the city council, to the mayor, to the Supreme Court, to the secretary of state,” Maestas said. “It was a struggle, but ultimately we got it on the ballot like we wanted it, and our voters came through overwhelmingly and we’re really happy about that.”
While the advisory question does not hold the power of law, legislators know where residents of Bernalillo County stand on the issue and should take the voters’ response under consideration, she said.
“After six months of working on campaigns that went from local, city ballot initiatives to multi-county campaigns, we are thrilled that over a third of our state’s population has sent a clear message on marijuana decriminalization in New Mexico,” said Patrick Davis, an organizer with ProgressNowNM.
Emily Kaltenbach, a worker with Drug Policy Action, said the group looks forward to working with local and statewide elected officials to try to create practical marijuana reform in the state. She said they are optimistic that the next legislative session will be another step in the right direction.
“New Mexicans made history tonight by having the chance to cast a vote in favor of marijuana policy reform,” Kaltenbach said. “We have made great strides over the last six months to ensure that New Mexicans understand the importance of decriminalizing marijuana statewide and we are very confident that this election has gotten us one step closer to that goal.”
Maestas said her organization will continue working to make sure that the results turn into real action.
While ProgressNowNM does not plan to continue campaigning after the state decriminalizes small amounts of marijuana, full, statewide legalization and taxation are the ultimate goals, she said.
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“Decriminalization is always the first step to more practical drug policy reform,” Maestas said. “If we can get it decriminalized, that will be great, and eventually we can hopefully get it regulated, taxed and legalized.”
The last advisory question that Bernalillo county voters weighed in on was posed in 2011, about whether Albuquerque should continue using red light cameras to issue traffic tickets.
The people voted to get rid of the cameras, and the city listened and ended the program.
Some critics said that the question had the possibility of misleading voters, who may have thought that they were voting to change the law and would be disappointed when they learned that they were simply stating their opinion on the issue.
Maestas said that while it will not have the power to change the law by itself, it was still a powerful and important step.
“This advisory question does have teeth; this will result in some kind of action,” she said. “Whether it’s at the county or the state level is still yet to be seen, but this is something that we did for the people, and we want them to know that this will affect change.”
Jonathan Baca is the news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com, or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
