ABC-7 XTRA: New Mexico’s cannabis boom. Will Texas ever make marijuana legal?

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Since New Mexico legalized cannabis for adult and medicinal use in April 2022, sales have totaled more than a billion dollars, according to the state's Regulation and Licensing Department. And sales tax revenue has topped $75 million, according to a statement in March from Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's office.

This Sunday on ABC-7 Xtra with Mark Ross, we look at how communities like Sunland Park are benefiting from their share of the tax revenue. Mayor Javier Perea is one of the guests, along with Ben Lewinger, the Executive Director of the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, who shares how his organization is helping cannabis dealers and other cannabis-related businesses.

El Paso state representative Joe Moody is also a guest. Representative Moody has been an advocate for lowering the penalty for marijuana possession in Texas. He'll talk about the challenges of passing legislation in Austin to make the penalty for possession of less than an ounce a Class C misdemeanor, and whether Texas will ever follow the lead of New Mexico and a number of other states and legalize marijuana.

ABC-7 Xtra Sunday airs at 10:35 p.m., right after ABC-7 at 10 Weekend.