Feds refusing to return seized New Mexico marijuana, lawsuit says

The Trump administration is refusing to return more than $1 million of marijuana seized from state-licensed New Mexico cannabis companies at interior Border Patrol checkpoints over the past year.

That’s the claim made in a lawsuit recently refiled in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.

Originally filed in October, the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Customs and Border Protection Agency was refiled by eight state-licensed companies on Feb. 14, court records show.

The eight plaintiffs are:

• Mesilla Valley Extracts, a licensed manufacturer in Las Cruces.
• Royal Cannabis, a licensed vertically integrated company that does business as Baked Chicken Farm. Baked Chicken operates a large-scale cultivation facility in a former poultry operation in Berino, near the Texas border.
• Super Farm, which does business as Smokey Road Farms and is a vertically integrated licensee in La Mesa.
• Impact Farms, a microbusiness licensee in Albuquerque.
• Chadcor Holdings NM, which operates as Top Crop Cannabis and is a vertically integrated licensee in Las Cruces.
• Mylars, a licensed manufacturer and distributor in Las Cruces.
• Rollin Love, a licensed retailer in Golondrinas.
• Desert Peaks Farms, a licensed cultivator in Mesilla Park.

The general scope of the lawsuit remains the same: As licensed cannabis operators told MJBizDaily last April, they’ve encountered an uptick in federal authorities seizing marijuana at interior checkpoints along major transit corridors in the state.

The Trump administration has yet to respond to the amendment complaint, and no court hearings are currently scheduled, according to the docket.

Marijuana companies want cannabis, cash returned

Though federal authorities in October returned vehicles impounded during the seizures, the lawsuit seeks a return of seized cannabis and currency.

Under the Biden administration, the Justice Department filed a motion in January to dismiss the suit, shortly before Donald Trump began his second term as president.

The crux of the DOJ’s argument to dismiss was that “marijuana is currently a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law” and that the seizures – including the asset forfeitures – were valid.

“The federal drug laws expressly extinguish property rights in Schedule I controlled substances, and they further provide that such substances are contraband subject to summary forfeiture,” the DOJ argued in its Jan. 14 filing.

“It is axiomatic that, to the extent federal law conflicts with state law, federal law prevails.”

It’s not yet clear how the DOJ might pursue the case under Pam Bondi, the new U.S. attorney general.

It’s also unclear how across-the-board cuts at federal agencies overseen by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) might impact the case.

Suit: Actions interfere with state’s ‘broad autonomy’

The lawsuit, first reported by Green Market Report, claims violations of the plaintiffs’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment as well as violations of the Tenth Amendment.

Federal authorities are also undermining the state’s ability to regulate commerce, the lawsuit adds.

“Defendants’ decision to selectively enforce the (Controlled Substances Act) at interior checkpoints within the State New Mexico also interferes with New Mexico’s broad autonomy to pursue its legislative objectives and its core sovereign right to regulate intrastate commerce,” the lawsuit notes.

“Additionally, Defendants’ selective enforcement interferes with New Mexico’s core sovereign judicial and police processes as it has the potential to result in the influx of untraceable cannabis products within the State.

“It also diverts the Defendants’ limited resources from ensuring the border in New Mexico is secure which has the potential to result in the influx of illegal immigrants and state-illegal substances into the State.”