Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico’s recreational cannabis market is blowin’ and goin’.
Adult-use cannabis sales topped $6.1 million statewide during the first week of legal retail sales, regulators announced Friday.
Adding the nearly $3.9 million more in medical cannabis sales brings the total weekly volume to about $10 million.
Officials had projected that legal recreational sales would generate about $300 million annually, which would average out to approximately $5.8 million per week.
“New Mexico was ready for this historic opportunity to end prohibition,” New Mexico Cannabis Control Division Director Kristen Thomson said in a statement. “Whether it’s people moving from the illicit market to the safe, regulated legal market or brand-new customers excited to try high-quality New Mexico products for the first time, New Mexicans supported cannabis businesses in record numbers this week.”
Nearly a third of the first week’s recreational sales – around $2 million – occurred on the first full day of business.
Samantha Zamora of Dulce Cannabis said she’s seen a little bit of everything since the family-run dispensary opened its doors to what she called an “insane line” of customers Friday in Albuquerque. She said her shop was busier than even she expected, and that the clientele has included some reefer rookies.
“We’ve definitely had a handful of people who are trying it for the first time,” she said. “It’s been kind of cool to talk to them about everything.”
And Zamora said her dispensary’s location on Carlisle, just a hop off of Interstate 40, means the customer flow is geographically diverse, with many buyers coming from outside New Mexico’s borders.
“We’ve gotten a lot of people who are just driving through,” she said, noting that they are typically finding her via the “Weedmaps” technology platform.
While Albuquerque – by far New Mexico’s largest city and home to more than a quarter of the state’s population – registered the most sales at $2.4 million in recreational product ($3.8 million overall), officials noted brisk sales in the communities along the Texas border. Hobbs, Sunland Park and Clovis were the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-biggest markets during the first week, according to state numbers.
Statewide sales occurred across 183,911 total transactions between 12 a.m. Friday, April 1, and 11:59 p.m. Thursday, April 7. Of those purchases, 111,021 were for recreational marijuana.
