Sunland Park, a town that borders west El Paso, continues to sell more recreational cannabis than Las Cruces and Santa Fe, according to the latest data from the Cannabis Control Division.
The town of roughly 17,000 brought in more than $2 million in January – down from December but still higher than the sales numbers for two of New Mexico’s larger cities.
Overall, sales numbers for recreational cannabis in January – which stood at $26.5 million – dropped from December’s record high of $28 million but are still the second highest since April when adult-use sales launched.
Recreational sales stand at $240.6 million, meaning the state will likely reach the $300 million cannabis experts predicted for first year sales.
Meanwhile, medical sales last month came in at the lowest they have been since adult-use sales began. January’s medical sales stood at $13.8 million – the first time since April medical sales dipped below $14 million.
Since April, medical sales dropped nearly every month with the latest skid coming between August and November when sales dropped from $16.5 million to roughly $14.1 million, data shows.
Patients in the state’s medical program continue to decline, too. At the end of the December, there were 112,426 patients enrolled in the program, down from 134,307 at the end of April. In January, the state had added anxiety as a qualifying condition for the program, likely in an effort to help boost numbers at a time when adult-use sales have taken center stage.
Duke Rodriguez, the president and CEO of Ultra Health, sounded the alarm with January’s sales data for medical cannabis.
“The medical cannabis sales indicate that our most vulnerable citizens – those with debilitating conditions – are seeking relief wherever their dollars can stretch furthest, and right now their dollars stretch further on illicit black market street corners,” he said.
Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Sunland Park sales
Recreational cannabis sales in Albuquerque were $8 million last month, data shows. That’s a drop off from $8.4 million in December, at the time a record-breaking number for sales in the city. Medical sales totaled $5.6 million.
Santa Fe adult-use sales stood at $1.8 million in January, down from roughly $2 million in December. And Las Cruces’ adult-use sales came in at about $1.8 million as well.
Recreational sales in Sunland Park totaled $2,023,596 in January, down from December’s record-high number of $2,083,255. In Hobbs, the adult-use sales number last month was $1.6 million, down from $1.7 million in December. And in Clovis, recreational sales in January totaled $757,358, data shows.
