2-11-2024 8:19pm

New Mexico Marijuana Sales Over Half a Billion Dollars - Big Business Even in Small Towns

As citizens in New Mexico and most especially in smaller towns such as Alamogordo complain of a marijuana shop, at what seems like every corner; industry bulls and the tax man is happy with the results of the newly legalized market.

The city of Alamogordo ranks 9th out of 80 reporting districts in the state in total marijuana sales at $23,440,835.25. Total sales statewide is almost a Trillion dollars since medical and recreational were legalized. Reporting as of Jan 2024 the total sales since legalization is $962,127,754.04.

The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division plant count of 523,819 indicates the number of cannabis plants that have been self-reported by cultivators to assist in tracking supply and demand for the public, consumers, businesses, and policy makers.

The demand for marijana in New Mexico is for between 34.19 and 177.22 metric tons of cannabis annually. New Mexico’s chile crop totaled about 69,000 tons in 2020 or more than 2,000 times the expected weight of cannabis demanded in the first year. But here’s the fun fact: Cannabis is far more valuable, per ton, than chile. Those 69,000 tons of chile were worth only about $52 million, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Marijuana demand estimate of 34.19 tons multiplied the market value of $341.9 million or six and a half times the value New Mexico's biggest crop for export chile.

Cannabis will add $115.2 billion to the US economy in 2024. The 2023 Vangst Jobs Report found 417,493 full-time equivalent jobs supported by legal cannabis as of early 2023. Markets like California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and more are yet to tap into the full potential of their respective cannabis industries. For example, California has only reached around 83,000 cannabis jobs of a potential 133,000.

Marijuana in the news at the Federal level.

Jan. 4, 2024 — The DEA confirms it is reviewing the cannabis rescheduling recommendation.
Jan. 12, 2024 — The U.S. government releases documents related to its ongoing review of marijuana's status under federal law. These documents provide the first official confirmation that health officials recommended the DEA reschedule cannabis officially confirming for the first time that health officials have recommended the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) place cannabis in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

As of today, we can only wait and see what the DEA decides and the Biden adminstration as the presidential election drones forward. One thing is for certain, cannabis policy reform is gaining serious momentum in 2024 and sales are growing everywhere. Cannabis is becoming big business in Alamogordo, in New Mexico and across the nation.