By Juliana Vandals / Albuquerque Business First
Published on July 7, 2017

The medical marijuana industry is getting pretty big in New Mexico. How big? In 2016, the top 25 medical marijuana companies made over $46 million in gross receipts and paid over $12.3 million in compensation to their employees.

One of the largest medical marijuana companies is R. Greenleaf Organics, which has 70 employees and nearly 10,000 patients who purchased in Q1 2017.

In total, 108,729 patients purchased from the top 25 medical marijuana companies on The List in Q1 2017. These companies have a total of 9,054 plants in production as of the same time period. The average price per gram among the top companies is $11.08, with the most expensive price per gram coming from Sacred Garden at nearly $30.

Marijuana has a history in the country of being a controversial substance. The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 imposed a tax on the sale of cannabis, hemp or marijuana.

In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act classified marijuana as a drug with “no accepted medical use.” In 1976, activist Robert Randall petitioned for his use of medical cannabis being a “medical necessity.”

California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996. New Mexico became the 12th state to allow medical cannabis with the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act in 2007.

The Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act allows for the “beneficial use of medical cannabis in a regulated system for alleviating symptoms caused by debilitating medical conditions and their medical treatments.”