New Mexico Sets New Monthly Marijuana Sales Record, With Purchases Topping A Half-Billion Dollars In First Full Year Of Recreational Market

Legal marijuana sales in New Mexico set a new monthly record as 2023 came to a close, with adult-use purchases in December climbing to more than $37 million and sales of medical marijuana reaching their highest point since August.

All told during 2023—the state’s first full year of legal sales—retailers sold more than half a billion dollars in cannabis products.

According to sales figures released on Tuesday through the state Regulation and Licensing Department’s (RLD) Cannabis Reporting Online Portal, or CROP, adult-use retailers in December sold about $37.5 million, while medical dispensaries sold just barely under $13 million—for a total of $50.5 million

Since adult-use marijuana stores opened their doors in April 2022, the market has seen $608.4 million in total purchases, with medical sales accounting for about $307.5 million.

Bigger purchases than in past months drove December’s sales boost, with the average medical transaction coming in at just under $52 and the average adult-use sale at about $42.50. The average transaction price in both markets has risen slightly in the past two months after the figure in both markets hit their lowest-ever points in October.

It’s not clear from the publicly available sales data whether the higher averages are due to more expensive products or consumers and patients buying more.

Cities with the highest total recorded adult-use sales by dollar amount include Albuquerque, Sunland Park, Las Cruces, Santa Fe and Hobbs. Highest total medical sales cities, meanwhile, were Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Rio Rancho and Alamogordo.

According to a state labor report released last June, workers in New Mexico’s marijuana industry are enjoying higher pay on average than they were earning at their previous jobs.

In May, the state regulators added insomnia to the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) in April approved a bill in April to follow through on a key goal of the state’s marijuana legalization law by facilitating automatic expungements for prior cannabis convictions. She also vetoed legislation that same month that would have revised sentencing laws and prevented the incarceration of people over simple drug possession.

New Mexico was one of multiple states that saw record-breaking surges in marijuana sales last year.

In August, for example, Rhode Island sold a record high amount of cannabis for the fourth consecutive month, notching $9.7 in monthly receipts.

Purchases of adult-use cannabis in August also broke a record ($23.7 million) in Montana, state officials reported, although medical marijuana sales were at their lowest ($5.0 million) since recreational markets opened in 2022.

Connecticut also broke another marijuana sales record in August, with $25 million worth of medical and adult-use cannabis purchases, state data show.

In Maine, too, marijuana sales reached a record high in August, with nearly $22 million worth of purchases, according to recent data from the state Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP).

In Maryland, officials recently announced that the the state broke anther marijuana sales record in August, with nearly $92 million worth of cannabis products sold during the state’s second month of legal adult-use sales.

In early September, Massachusetts officials reported that retailers have now sold more than $5 billion in adult-use marijuana since the state’s recreational market launched five years ago. Sales reached $139.3 million in August alone, with the year-to-date total at $1.05 billion within the first eight months of 2023.

Illinois retailers sold $140 million worth of recreational marijuana products in July—the strongest sales of the year and second highest monthly total for the state since the adult-use market launched in 2020.

Michigan marijuana sales also reached another record high in July, with nearly $277 million worth of cannabis sold.

In Missouri, meanwhile, retailers have been selling about $4 million worth of marijuana per day on average since the state’s adult-use market opened up in February—and the state saw a record $121.2 million in cannabis purchases in June.

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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.