ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Duke Rodriguez’s plan to build a statewide chain of cannabis retail stores has hit a snag.

Rodriguez, owner of Ultra Health LLC, contends that state regulators have slow-tracked his request to open at least 14 new stores, most located in communities that now lack dispensaries.

“We’re just caught in this limbo with no formal response,” Rodriguez said this week. “We have met every single request that they have presented, including evidence that we were able to secure product.”

Ultra Health, which operates a medical cannabis growing site in Bernalillo, has purchased cannabis from two other producers, and has agreements to buy from four others, he said.

Ultra Health, which now operates six dispensaries in four cities, submitted requests in May, June and July for additional dispensaries in 13 cities.

Most are located in communities with no existing cannabis retailers, including Silver City, Deming, Carlsbad, Socorro, Truth or Consequences, Truth or Consequences, and Bernalillo County’s South Valley.

The New Mexico Department of Health this week denied that it has delayed Ultra Health’s requests, saying the agency “carefully reviews and evaluates” applications for new dispensaries.

Ultra Health’s applications are among 18 requests for new dispensary locations now under review, DOH spokesman David Morgan said in a written statement.

The agency’s concerns about Ultra Health’s expansion center on the issue of adequate supply, according to an email sent by the DOH to Ultra Health officials.

“Your amendments for additional dispensaries center on one issue, adequate supply,” according to the July 22 email, which Rodriguez provided to the Journal.

DOH last year increased the number of cannabis plants producers can grow to a maximum 450 plants, up from the previous cap of 150.

Because of the 450 plant maximum, “it would be extremely difficult, even under optimal conditions and an ideal production cycle, to adequately serve the needs of even six dispensaries with that plant count,” the email said.

Rodriguez said he subsequently provided DOH with agreement letters with six other cannabis producers that he said show that Ultra Health could obtain adequate supplies.

To date, Ultra Health has purchased a total of 22 pounds of cannabis from two other New Mexico producers, he said. Rodriguez declined to identify his suppliers.

Ultra Health and a cannabis patient filed a lawsuit against DOH last month alleging that the 450 plant maximum has created “a dire situation” for medically fragile patients who can’t find the products they need.

State records show that since June 2012, plant production has increased 174 percent through June 30, but the number of cardholders increased 280 percent to 26,568 in the same four-year period.