Today marks a new era for New Mexico and the people are clearly excited – enough to line up for hours before dispensaries opened their doors. Workers started slinging cannabis at 12:01 a.m. in Las Cruces, followed by Santa Fe dispensaries opening at 7 a.m. Albuquerque shops followed with 10 a.m. launches.
KOB4 reported 5,809 adult-use transactions totaling over $475,000 in the Land of Enchantment by noon today, which made up 68.9% of all cannabis transactions in the state.
“This is what consumers want,” Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham told NPR. “We have the potential for 11,000 more workers, jobs in places where young people can work and stay, like Torrance County and Texico and Tucumcari and Raton.”
After signing the Cannabis Regulation Act last year, the governor said sales will begin by April 1st. They’ve kept their promise today – it’s no April Fools joke.
The Cannabis Control Commission has issued 151 retail licenses reaching nearly 250 different locations. Not all of the licensees are opening shop today, though. Adults 21 and older can buy up to two ounces of cannabis flower, 16 grams of concentrate, or 800 mg of edibles at a time.
Jeremy Sandoval, a resident of Las Cruces, was the first customer at R. Greenleaf Dispensary. He waited in line from 6:30 p.m. until midnight to make the first adult-use purchase. “Definitely a part of history. It’s a milestone we’ve all been waiting for, and we finally crossed it,” he told WIProud.
