By Eddie Garcia / KOB 4

Published on May 4, 2017

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In New Mexico, there are 21 qualifying health conditions for medical cannabis. Leonard Salgado, the vice president for business development at Ultra Heath, listed just a few of them.

“It’s chronic pain, cancer, PTSD and more patients are enrolling every day,” Salgado said.

Ultra Health, New Mexico’s number one medical cannabis provider in sales, said demand is, in fact, outgrowing supply.

Medical cannabis provider says demand outpacing supply
“From 2015 to 2017 the patient population has grown by over 157 percent,” Salgado said.

That’s where Salgado said state regulation is clogging supply and inflating the price.

“We as producers are capped at 450 plants. That’s the cap,” Salgado said.

In a statement to KOB, the New Mexico Department of Health said:

The New Mexico Department of Health is always committed to reviewing the overall operation of the state’s Medical Cannabis Program (MCP) in order to ensure patients have safe access to medicine. That’s why, within the last two years, we tripled the number of plants producers can grow from 150 to 450.

Reports submitted by producers show that in 2016 there was not only an increase in production, but there was also more product in stock at the end of each quarter than in 2015.”

Salgado said it’s not enough. Now Ultra Health is launching litigation against the state to increase the number of plants.

“The plant count to be aligned with the growth of the program,” he said.

Until an agreement can be reached, Salgado said New Mexico patients will have to shell out more cash than patients in surrounding states to get their medicine.