Cannabis sales dropped $4.3 million from August to September. One less day might have something to do with that.

Adult-use cannabis sales dropped below $36 million for the first time since February and medical cannabis sales reached an all-time low under the regulation of the Cannabis Control Division.

That’s according to CCD data for September, which shows recreational cannabis sales last month were at $35.7 million and medical cannabis sales at $11.1 million.

The drop in recreational and medical cannabis sales from August to September totaled $4.3 million, with the largest decrease coming in adult-use sales at $3.2 million, data shows.

Andrea Brown, a CCD spokesperson, said the division doesn’t “forecast trends” when asked if the drop in sales was anticipated for September, “but rather publicly reports the data received from licensees to help the industry and other interested stakeholders stay informed.”

She did, however, acknowledge that a drop in medical cannabis sales was expected as the growth of the recreational cannabis industry has taken off since April 2022.

“A patient is no longer required to be enrolled in the medical program to purchase their medicine,” she said.

Either way, the drop in adult-use cannabis in September ranks as the second-lowest sales month this year, according to CCD data. In January, cannabis businesses sold about $34.4 million in recreational pot.

Ken Bair, a senior vice president with Schwazze, the Colorado-based company that owns 35 R.Greenleaf and Everest Cannabis Co. stores in New Mexico, said the September sales number didn’t surprise his team, noting that July and August both had an extra day.

“You can’t compare a 31-day month to a 30-day month because it’s just not the same. It’s not apples to apples,” he said. “That does make a difference in the total.”

Sales in medical cannabis, since CCD took over regulation of the cannabis industry, have continued to trend downward since April 2022 when sales that month were at $17.4 million.

The drop in medical sales from August to September — $1.1 million — represents the largest month-over-month decrease this year.

The decrease in sales comes as the patient count for New Mexico’s medical cannabis program continues to decline. The latest patient count from the state Department of Health shows there were 79,010 patients at the end of September.

Duke Rodriguez, president and CEO of Ultra Health, said roughly 55,000 patients have left the medical cannabis program since its peak, which “in turn has inflated adult sales by over $100 million.”

“We are simply taking money out of one pocket and putting it in the other pocket,” he said.

Bair said he expects medical cannabis sales to continue dropping. Last month, medical cannabis sales made up just under a quarter of overall sales at 24%.

“Probably in (2025) by the end of the year, it’ll be down to 15%, 10% of the market,” he said.

In Albuquerque, adult-use cannabis sales last month were under $10 million, according to CCD data, while there were $4.6 million medical sales. Adult-use sales in Las Cruces were just under $2 million last month and medical sales were $847,915.

In Santa Fe, recreational sales also were just under $2 million, while medical sales were at $870,771. And in the border town Sunland Park, where cannabis sales have taken off since the start of the recreational industry, adult-use sales totaled $4.5 million.

CCD’s monthly report, which it does through its Cannabis Reporting Online Portal, or CROP, showed there were 942,007 adult-use transactions and 238,256 medical transactions last month.

While medical sales continue to decline, patients in the program spend $46.65 per transaction. Adult-use customers last month spent $37.90 on average.

Data shows the state’s recreational cannabis industry is on pace to hit $1 billion in adult-use sales in the next couple of months since sales began two-and-a-half years ago. In March, the state surpassed $1 billion in combined medical and recreational cannabis sales since CCD began tracking data for both industries in April 2022.