New Mexico, new market.
After the state’s recent legalization, a ton of longtime local medical dispensaries have pivoted to serve recreational customers, as well as their loyal medical bases.
It’s an exciting time for the New Mexico cannabis industry. Let’s take a look at some of the companies shaking things up in the Southwest.
Mountaintop Extracts
Lots of New Mexico cannabis brands take inspiration from the Land of Enchantment, and Mountaintop is no different. Their packaging has a slightly psychedelic vibe, with lots of cacti and flowers, and some tarot-inspired designs. This nature-forward outfit started in 2012 by siblings who grew medical cannabis for their mom (aww). They’ve had a decade to refine their extraction process and now sell edibles, concentrates, and vape cartridges. Mountaintop Extracts places emphasis on education — including free, tarot-inspired flash cards — to normalize and optimize consumers’ cannabis use.
Pharmers
If Mountain Top is the bearded shaman you meet on a backcountry trail, Pharmers is Walter White. The “chemistry-focused” outfit has been in the medical game for years. Its website is full of gifs of whirring machinery, and it doesn’t shy away from expert-level lingo like BHO, ERRL, and the like. The company boasts that it only produces high-end concentrates — resin, wax, shatter, slush, you name it — as well as cartomizers and candy, like “tophee” and “taphy” (sensing a theme?). They also sell apparel and run a cannabis industry podcast — The Pharm Table.
The Verdes Foundation
Started in 2010, Verdes is one of the longest-operating dispensaries in the state. The sleekly-branded outfit is staffed by registered nurses and focuses on wellness and health. They sell everything from tinctures to topicals, and their in-house operation is wild — check out this making-of video of their distillate-infused sugar puffs, featuring a 3D-printed mold. Verdes also has an interesting lineup of beverage mixes. They look like little juice shots, marketed for consumers to mix with sparkling water to create a 10 mg beverage. Verdes also runs Canna Curious — Q&A events over Zoom and in-person to dispel cannabis myths and answer questions about everything from strain types to terpenes — connecting Verdes directly with their consumer base to build trust.
Best Daze
Perhaps the most “normal” dispensary on this list, Best Daze stocks a variety of products and doesn’t have an ultra-specific vibe like “mad scientist” or “desert Buddha.” They have seven locations across the state and appear to be doing quite well for themselves, having been in operation for a number of years. Like many OG medical companies, they make their own edibles, including flowery gummies and brightly-colored lollipops. It is the desert, however, so Best Daze meets its legally-mandated weirdness requirement through a little-known YouTube channel where a handsome “Dr. Goodkush” (who is actually the COO, Eli Goodman) will teach new consumers how to smoke weed. Goodman runs Best Daze with his father, CEO Len Goodman.
GrassRoots
GrassRoots, operating since 2016, is another healing-focused medical outfit that now offers recreational goods. Its branding is also nature-focused, with trees and roots aplenty. The brand boasts of budtenders who educate patients on the best strains for their needs, as well as an online education center and an onsite doctor who takes medical card applications once a week. GrassRoots’ in-house bakery makes its own edibles, including chocolates and gummies.
