[JURIST] New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson [official website] signed into law the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act [Senate Bill 523 text and history] Monday, legalizing medical marijuana [JURIST news archive] in the treatment of certain "eligible conditions and symptoms." Eligible conditions include chronic or debilitating diseases such as cancer, AIDS, and glaucoma. The New Mexico Department of Health [official website] will establish regulations for licensing, production, and distribution, to be monitored by a panel of eight health care professionals. New Mexico Business Weekly has more.

About a dozen US states permit the use of medical marijuana. The US Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Gonzales v. Raich [opinion text; Duke Law case backgrounder] upheld Congress's power to criminalize the growth and personal use of marijuana for medical purposes.