Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

New Mexico tops $22M in recreational cannabis sales in April

Customers purchase cannabis products at an R. Greenleaf Organics dispensary in Santa Fe on April 1, the first day of legal recreational cannabis sales in New Mexico. Sales for the budding industry topped $22 million in the month of April, according to state officials. (Eddie Moore/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 sales.

Cannabis was legalized for recreational sale on April 1 and the CCD released data for 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.

“New Mexicans have a lot to be proud of in the launch of this new industry, which is already adding value to the state’s diverse economy.”

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 them 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 only releasing monthly sales numbers going forward.

Day one of cannabis sales on April 1 still remains the largest sales day for the state. About 29,000 adult-use consumers spent about $1.9 million that day.

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