With less than two months until the end of 2020, New Mexico is expecting to hit the $200 million mark in cannabis sales by December 31.
According to the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program, the third quarter of 2020 yielded $55 million, which was a 62 percent increase over the third quarter of 2019. At the end of September, the state program had 98,507 patients enrolled, which is a 27 percent increase compared to last year’s enrollment numbers.
Ultra Health is New Mexico’s top producer, having made $7 million in cannabis sales during this quarter (which is more than what the other top four other producers made in a combined total). According to Ultra Health CEO and President Duke Rodriguez, it has remained a successful business for sales in New Mexico, but also stands in support of inclusivity in the industry. “Today’s cannabis market is teaching us much about resiliency, adapting and rapid growth. But most importantly, the greatest lesson is about inclusiveness. We are in this together and each day provides a new opportunity to better serve. The new normal is, be bitter or be better,” Rodriguez said in a press release.
Based on data from the past year, there is evidence that cannabis consumers in New Mexico are gravitating toward the companies that sell more product regularly and are well-established. From $21 million in new quarterly revenue, 70 percent of sales came from the state’s top five producers.
New Mexico’s medical cannabis program was first legalized by the signature of former-Governor Bill Richardson in 2007 (although cannabis wasn’t decriminalized until 2019). Recreational cannabis still remains illegal, but current Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has expressed her support in legalizing recreational cannabis in 2021, following the failure of a cannabis bill to gain traction in a New Mexico Senate Judiciary Committee in February 2020.
