Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal
First-month recreational cannabis sales in New Mexico topped $22 million, according to the state’s Cannabis Control Division.
Overall, the state realized nearly $40 million in cannabis sales when factoring in medical transactions.
Cannabis was legalized for recreational sale on April 1 and the CCD released first-month data on Tuesday.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office estimated earlier this year that the state would realize about $300 million in sales through the recreational sale of cannabis in its first year, which means the state would need to average about $25 million each month until April of next year. New Mexico was about $3 million under that in the first month of adult-use sales.
Still, CCD Director Kristen Thomson praised New Mexico’s newest industry.
“New Mexicans showed up on April 1 ready to support local businesses selling high-quality New Mexico products,” Thomson said in a statement, adding that “they’re still coming. Thanks to hard work by the dedicated people working in the industry, supply easily met consumer and patient demand.”
Albuquerque saw the largest number of adult-use cannabis sales of any city or town in the state, bringing in more than $8 million. On the medical side, the city did about $6.8 million, according to CCD data.
Las Cruces, the second-largest city in New Mexico, did more than $2 million in adult-use sales. Santa Fe came in third, with about $1.8 million in recreational sales.
Some of New Mexico’s border towns did well, too. Hobbs did more than $1.3 million in adult-use sales – putting it fourth on the list – and Sunland Park came in fifth with nearly $1.2 million in sales, according to the data. Clovis did $801,826 in sales.
Tax payments from recreational cannabis are due on May 25, according to CCD, and state revenue figures will be released after that day. CCD said it will begin releasing only monthly sales numbers going forward.
Day One of cannabis sales on April 1 remains the largest sales day for the state, with some 29,000 adult-use consumers spending almost $2 million that day.
