Business
New Mexico Officials Celebrate Marijuana Milestone As Sales Cross $1 Billion Mark Since Recreational Market Launched
New Mexico officials are celebrating a new milestone for the state’s marijuana industry, with retailers hitting recording more than $1 billion in total sales since the launch of the state’s adult-use cannabis market.
February’s sales totals included more than $35 million in adult-use purchases—the second-highest monthly amount on record, according to figures from the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department’s Cannabis Control Division. The state’s medical marijuana market, meanwhile, recorded over $12 million in sales.
With those additions, the cumulative amount sold in the state reached $1.01 billion. That includes both medical and adult-use cannabis receipts going back to April 2022, when the recreational market opened for business. The state does not publish medical cannabis dispensary sales data prior to that date.
“This is a huge milestone for New Mexico’s cannabis industry,” Regulation and Licensing Department Superintendent Clay Bailey told Marijuana Moment on Monday. “Consumers have proven that they support this industry and the businesses that have worked hard to put our state on the map when it comes to legal, regulated cannabis sales.”
Average transaction prices in February were $41.99 for adult-use purchases and $51.96 for medical marijuana buyers. The medical number is higher than at any point since April 2023.
The top five cities for adult-use sales were Albuquerque, Sunland Park, Las Cruces, Santa Fe and Hobbs. In terms of medical marijuana, the top five were Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Rio Rancho and Alamogordo.
Measured another way, New Mexico sold more than a half-billion-dollars’ worth of marijuana during the first full calendar year of the adult-use market when figures from medical sales were included.
Meanwhile, the governor of said last month that she “endorses” a newly enacted resolution requesting that state officials research the therapeutic potential of psilocybin and explore the creation of a regulatory framework to provide access to the psychedelic.
Earlier in the month, the Senate had unanimously passed the measure from Senate Minority Whip Craig Brandt (R) and Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D).
Michael Coleman, director of communication Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s (D) office, said the governor “generally supports innovative and responsible research and treatment to address depression, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health challenges.”
The Senate passage of the psychedelics resolution comes one year after the House Health and Human Services Committee approved a similar bill that called for the creation of a state body to study the possibility of launching a psilocybin therapy program for certain patients. That measure did not advance further in the 2023 session, however.
Last year the state Senate also voted to let drive-through marijuana stores remain open. A proposal by the body’s Judiciary Committee would have prohibited sales of cannabis through a drive-thru window.
