Business
New Mexico Retailers Set A New Marijuana Sales Record In March
Sales of legal marijuana in New Mexico set a new monthly record in March, with combined adult-use and medical marijuana purchases totaling more than $52.5 million.
Of that, a record $39.4 million came from adult-use sales, according to the Regulation and Licensing Department’s Cannabis Control Division, while medical marijuana purchases comprised another $13.0 million.
The new combined record is more than $2 million more than the state’s previous high-water mark of $50.5 million in combined medical and adult-use sales, which was set last December. The adult-use sales figure, meanwhile, is just under $2 million more than the past monthly record of $37.5 million, also set last December.
By dollar amount, about three quarters (75.2 percent) of all sales in March came from recreational purchases.
Sales numbers in March 2023 also set total and adult-use sales records at the time.
The top cities in terms of all-time medical marijuana sales, according to state data, are Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces. Leading adult-use cities, meanwhile, are Albuquerque, Sunland Park and Las Cruces.
The average transaction value among adult-use consumers in March was $42.50—down from $44.66 a year earlier. Medical marijuana transactions were notably higher on average, at $51.81 last month—also down slightly from $53.10 a year ago.
Last month, New Mexico officials celebrated recording more than $1 billion in total sales since the launch of the state’s adult-use cannabis market.
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 at the time. “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.”
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 said in February 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 this year, the Senate 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.
