New Mexico First Quarter Medical Cannabis Sales Up 43% From 2019

Medical cannabis sales in New Mexico topped $40.1 million for the first quarter of 2020, up 43 percent – or $12 million – over first quarter sales last year, according to an industry report by licensed producer Ultra Health which led all of the state’s cannabis firms with sales of $6.1 million during the first three months of the year.

New Mexico’s top 10 cannabis companies accounted for 71 percent of total patient sales throughout the quarter, the report says.

The state saw a 20 percent increase in medical cannabis program enrollees over the same span last year which could be due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ultra Health CEO and President Duke Rodriguez said.

“Robust activity during a period of high uncertainty is a testament to the essentialness of cannabis. Going forward, the new normal will create a far greater demand on the medical necessity, product availability and patient affordability of quality cannabis care.” – Rodriguez in a statement

The report notes that the state’s medical cannabis program currently has nearly 90,000 enrolled patients but the industry is operating with its lowest supply shortages since the end of 2019, early 2020. The state Health Department said there were 6.2 million grams in stock at the end of the fourth quarter 2019 but that stock declined 58 percent during 2020’s first quarter to 2.6 million grams.

Additionally, the report authors say that unsold medical cannabis stock figures reported by the Department of Health last month – 36,000 pounds – were inaccurate and that figure is actually about 5,714 pounds.

“Furthermore, there were only 28 grams of cannabis available per patient at the end of the first quarter of 2020, while there were 77 grams available per patient at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019,” the report says. “This represents a 64 percent decrease of accessible medicine per patient.”

New Mexico medical cannabis patients spent about $160 per member per month; by comparison, Colorado patients – of which are fewer than in New Mexico – spent $361 per patient per month.