Programmatic changes needed to allow New Mexican patients similar access as Colorado patients

(Albuquerque) – Patient enrollment in New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program reached 85,168 patients, according to recent data released by the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH). This represents an increase of 20% over March 2019 enrollment. 

New Mexico’s medical program is outpacing neighboring Colorado’s medical program, which enrolled 81,722 patients as of March 31, 2020. 

As New Mexico’s program grows larger than Colorado’s, key adjustments need to be made to provide adequate supply and patient access. The current programmatic differences of the New Mexico and Colorado models have led to significantly different patient sales, production, available plants per patient, pricing, and purchase limits between the two programs. 

State – Medical Only Activity	Colorado	New Mexico
Enrolled Patients (March 2020)	81,722	85,168
Sales (2019)	$338.5M	$129.3M
Pounds of cannabis sold (2019)	210,730*	21,939
Plants in Production (2019)	286,299	26,098
Plants per Patient	3.5	0.3
Purchase Limits (90 days)	180 oz	8 oz
Average Price Per Gram	$3.28	$10.26
Sales Tax on Medical Cannabis?	NO	YES

*Annualized figure from Colorado Department of Revenue 6-month data. 

New Mexico patients continue to pay higher prices for the medicine they need because supply is hampered by regulation, and they are unable to obtain medicine in the quantities their conditions require. New Mexico continues to mandate the lowest patient-purchase limits in the country despite written confirmation from NMDOH that the department would revisit purchase limits during the summer 2019 rulemaking process. 

These inequalities in production and patient access have resulted in lower-than-normal patient sales in New Mexico’s regulated market. In 2019, New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program reached $129 million in patient sales while Colorado’s program generated $338 million – nearly three times New Mexico’s sales with similar patient enrollment – during the same period. 

New Mexico’s program also had far fewer plants in production due to arbitrary overregulation. In 2019, cannabis producers in New Mexico had a total of only 26,098 plants in production, largely in part due to the restriction of a maximum of 1,750 plants per producer. Meanwhile in Colorado, more than 286,000 plants were cultivated statewide for medical cannabis patient needs with an enrollment similar to New Mexico.

Since Colorado legalized cannabis for adult-use, the state’s medical program has fallen from a high of 115,000 patients to now less than 82,000. New Mexico is likely to face a similar reduction in patient enrollment if medical patients cannot access the medical program in a more beneficial way than nonpatients can access the future adult-use program.