Medical Cannabis Supply Strained by Adult-Use Sales In New Mexico

Two weeks into adult-use cannabis sales in New Mexico, some medical cannabis patients and stores have started asking how the state will strike the balance between serving patients and making adult-use cannabis profitable, KOB 4 reports. The state Cannabis Control Division (CCD) says New Mexico has sold over $8 million in adult-use cannabis in two weeks, but KOB notes the data shows medical cannabis demand remains high.

Stefanie K, a longtime medical cannabis patient, says stores have been telling her to keep her medical cannabis card although she feels there is no difference between the two systems at the moment.

“They’re telling us we should keep our cards even though it’s recreational. For what reason? What are we getting? What perks are we getting? We don’t get to get in line in front of anybody, we don’t get to pay less prices, we don’t get better weed. No, we get nothing,” she said.

She said the strains she uses for her anxiety have sold out of her dispensary, causing her to have to find them at a medical-only shop, which she says is becoming harder to find. Stefanie said now that adult-use has arrived, the shops are only concerned about “money signs, the dollars.”

Some New Mexico stores have tried to look out for patients as adult-use cannabis emerges. Ellie Besancon, executive director of Green Goods, told KOB her store wanted to “create display cases whereby we have only recreational offerings and only medical offerings.” But, she feels some of their loyal patients still have a “frustration level,” having to wait in long lines even though they “knew what they wanted.”

Besancon told KOB they want to make it through the 4/20 holiday and “then sort of gather ourselves up, pick ourselves up out of the dust, and kind of take another inventory of what we have.”