Less than a week after the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government and journalist Peter St. Cyr filed a lawsuit seeking release of the names of licensed medical cannabis producers in New Mexico, Gov. Susana Martinez has issued a directive to the State Department of Health to rewrite its rule keeping those names secret.

“Even though we do not believe that the Department’s rule was valid, we commend the action taken by the Governor to rewrite it,” said Greg Williams, FOG president. “However, it does not resolve the lawsuit. FOG has repeatedly filed requests for the producers’ names under the Inspection of Public Records Act, and those names have not been provided. We call upon DOH to immediately release the names of current and past producers as well as license applicants.”

Filed in the state district court in Albuquerque on July 9, the lawsuit seeks an order declaring invalid the DOH rule providing confidentiality for medical marijuana producers. The suit also asks for an order directing release of the producer names pursuant to IPRA requests filed by both FOG and St. Cyr.

Read the article about the Governor’s proposed changes to the policy here.