New Mexico Passes $300 Million in First Year of Recreational Cannabis Sales

New Mexico, one of the newest adult-use marijuana markets in the nation, just inched past $300 million in sales for its first 12 months of operations, which launched April 1, 2022.

The Land of Enchantment is now home to 1,906 cannabis companies, including 633 retailers, 351 producers, 415 microproducers, and another 507 manufacturers, according to a press release from Gov. Lujan Grisham’s office. And the market is off to a “strong start,” local industry insiders told the Albuquerque Journal.

The governor celebrated the anniversary, hailing it as an economic milestone, and said she’s “excited to see what the future holds” as the industry continues to blossom. The market hit its record high just last month in March, with $32.3 million in monthly sales.

Though the major metro areas of Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe saw the highest sales figures throughout the past year, Texas border towns also hit high notes. Sunland Park, which borders El Paso, notched $19.4 million in recreational cannabis sales last year, according to the release, largely due to visiting Texans, Fox News reported.

Still, there are already concerns about market oversaturation, given the state’s low population and high rate of cannabis stores.

One longtime medical marijuana executive, Jon Updegraff of Verdes Cannabis, told KOB 4 that plenty of companies are already struggling due to the competition from hundreds of other retailers, which he calculated outnumber both Starbucks and McDonalds storefronts combined in the Albuquerque area.

“When you think of the competition in that sense it’s been very stiff,” Updegraff said.