With the launch of leisure hashish gross sales in New Mexico slated for April 1, state officers say that cultivators are presently rising a couple of million hashish vegetation. However with the opening of dispensaries now solely days away, trade insiders are questioning the state’s figures and questioning if there will likely be adequate provides of hashish for shoppers and medical sufferers.
This week, the state Regulation and Licensing Division’s Hashish Management Division (CCD) introduced that licensed hashish growers have entered 1,013,178 mature vegetation right into a statewide monitoring system. The determine is greater than twice as many vegetation as state officers estimate will likely be wanted to serve the state’s 132,000 registered medical hashish sufferers and leisure prospects. Final summer season, Linda Trujillo, superintendent of the Regulation and Licensing Division, informed lawmakers that the hashish trade will want about 500,000 vegetation to fulfill demand.
However some representatives of the state’s hashish trade have questioned the variety of vegetation in cultivation reported by state officers. Duke Rodriguez, president and CEO of New Mexico Prime Organics-Extremely Well being, told the Santa Fe New Mexican that the quantity is “unattainable,” saying that it will require “soccer fields after soccer fields” of land to develop that many hashish vegetation. Jason Greathouse, co-owner of Roswell-based Pecos Valley Manufacturing, additionally expressed disbelief on the state’s plant depend.
“If there are one million hashish vegetation within the state, I don’t know the place they’re,” stated Greathouse. “Are they authorized vegetation? Are they unlawful vegetation?”
“I solely have 3,000 vegetation within the floor,” he added, though he plans to have 20,000 by June.
Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for the CCD, stated on Tuesday that the state’s plant complete is correct, noting that it displays data from the state’s seed-to-sale monitoring system BioTrack. The information is entered by hashish cultivators themselves, so “assuming all the knowledge was appropriately entered, that quantity is correct,” she stated.
Regulators Enhance Hashish Manufacturing Limits
Early this yr, CCD director Heather Thomson introduced the adoption of emergency rules to extend the plant limits for hashish cultivators. Below the short-term guidelines, most growers had been allowed to domesticate twice as many vegetation.
“We’ve got been listening to producers, shoppers and sufferers who’re as dedicated because the Hashish Management Division is to supporting a thriving hashish trade in New Mexico,” Thomson said in January. “Doubling the plant depend for licensed producers is sensible to make sure that everybody can maximize the advantages of a thriving hashish trade.”
However Rodriquez stated he doesn’t imagine that the state’s cultivators have adequate hashish to keep away from shortages as soon as adult-use dispensaries open on April 1.
“What we have now right this moment is what we’re going to serve the market. Is it going to be sufficient? The reply is not any,” Rodiguez stated. “On day one it’s going to be a problem because it’s going to be a problem for possibly so long as 9 to 12 to 18 months.”
However regulators imagine that there will likely be sufficient hashish, with any short-term shortages being rapidly rectified.
“I can not think about this nor will we anticipate shops promoting fully out. Until they had been solely promoting one product,” Thomson said.
Brian Vicente, a founding companion of hashish legislation agency Vicente Sederberg LLP, stated that “New Mexico is coming into an thrilling new post-prohibition period” with subsequent week’s launch of adult-use hashish gross sales.
“The Governor and regulators have proven a eager curiosity in helping this development trade, whereas balancing the wants of assorted neighborhood members,” Vicente wrote in an electronic mail to Excessive Instances. “When a brand new state begins leisure gross sales, it’s common to expertise fluctuations in hashish provide, as this new market settles.”
After chatting with plenty of New Mexico producers, Vicente stated that companies are keen to provide the state’s new leisure hashish market and are working to handle issues of potential product shortages.
“Nonetheless, given the novel nature of this April 1 leisure launch, it’s actually potential that demand will outstrip provide within the quick time period, and we might even see limitations on buy quantities or different measures to handle excessive demand,” Vicente stated.
Barbara Crawford, proprietor of medical pot cultivator Southwest Hashish in Taos, New Mexico, has practically doubled the capability of her operation over the previous two years to about 3,500 vegetation. However even with the brand new investments in manufacturing, she famous that it takes time to develop vegetation to maturity and harvest.
“That’s simply the fact of this enterprise,” Crawford told the Taos Information. “I believe we’re gonna get there ultimately, however there’s going to be a scarcity come June. I don’t care what number of shops there are.”