Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.

The big news in cannabis this week comes from New Mexico.  Legislation introduced last Thursday would legalize recreational marijuana.  It would also require dispensaries to offer medical marijuana and prohibit local jurisdictions from banning the industry.  Governor Grisham has indicated her support for the measure, so if it passes the legislature, it looks like New Mexico will become the seventh Western state to legalize.

Meanwhile, on the East Coast, Governor Cuomo of New York included adult-use legalization in his state budget proposal.  A similar measure was stripped out of last year’s budget, and legislation stalled at the end of the 2019 legislative session.  The governor hopes that the state will coordinate with Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey on packaging, labeling and advertising rules.

And Rhode Island Governor Raimondo has included legalization in her state budget proposal.  Like Cuomo, the governor is trying again, after last year’s effort was unsuccessful.

Turning to the federal government, both cannabis industry groups and member of the House sent letters to Senator Mike Crapo.  They fear the Senate version of the marijuana banking bill now in the Senate could be much more restrictive than the version that passed the House in 2019.

And the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into a scheme to sell phony interests in a marijuana company.  The agency’s press release indicates “…[Guy] Griffithe and [Robert] Russell exploited popular interest in the cannabis industry to obtain millions of dollars from investors who thought they were buying into a profitable business.”

Finally, the magazine High Times has decided to get into the industry.   The company will open stores  in Las Vegas and Los Angeles that will offer both cannabis and cannabis-related accessories.