Stepping stone in elevating all adult use cannabis tourism, Cannabis Cup has a special impact on Las Vegas.

By Kat Thomas / Santa Monica Observer

Published on March 7, 2017

–In November of 2016, both Prop 64 and Prop 2 passed legalizing recreational marijuana in the states of California and Nevada.

–By the end of 2016 Los Angeles welcomed 47.3 million visitors to its sunny locale while Las Vegas had 42.9 million flock to Las Vegas.

A two months ago on January 1st, 2107, a man in black tactical-style gear and tarpaulins (one with a peace sign, one with a heart) altered the iconic Hollywood sign to read HollyWEED. One would think cities that welcome more tourists per year than the population of Canada would be chomping at the bit to become one of the country’s cannabis destination.

But marijuana tourism infrastructure for the sixth largest economy in the world and Sin City takes much longer to implement than hanging a tarp over a sign.

As SoCal-Nevada tenderly enters the world of recreational marijuana we decided to interview a few cannabis experts on how two of the largest tourist cities in the United States can implement a strong visitor strategy.

Duke Rodriguez is the CEO and President of Ultra Health, which focuses on turnkey solutions provider for the specialty medical cannabis industry. Ultra Health currently has seven dispensary locations and one cultivation site in New Mexico, and is establishing more locations in Nevada. In Las Vegas, Ultra Health is partnering with HIGH TIMES for the U.S. Las Vegas Cannabis Cup on March 4 and 5 hosted at the Moapa River Indian Reservation. The event, will kick off HIGH TIMES’ 2017 Live & Legal Cannabis Experience Tour and will feature a live cannabis grow room, live trimming, a cannabis chef cooking competition, edibles seminars, product launches, musical acts and industry speakers. https://ultrahealth.com/

Krista Whitley is the CEO of Social Media Unicorn is a cannabis brand exclusive full service marketing and sale agency that creates effective consumer experiences. With unicorns on the ground in Las Vegas, Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Phoenix her company encompasses all aspects of marijuana branding, public relations, influence marketing, celebrity appearances, digital marketing, social media. Whitley’s clients include Merry Jane, a cannabis media organization created by Snoop Dogg to share cannabis culture, Indus Holding Co, California’s leading cannabis producer and distributor, and Tahoe Hydroponics, Nevada’s award-winning cannabis cultivator located on the shore of Lake Tahoe. http://www.socialmediaunicorn.com/

Brannon Zimbelman is the CEO of The Travel Joint, the world’s only cannabis travel and leisure site with 420-rentals, hotels, flights, dispensaries, tours, and events. The Travel Joint has become the Airbnb of the cannabis managing over 30 properties in states such as Colorado, Nevada, Washington, and Oregon along with crafting higher-end experiences such as a marijuana friendly cowboy ranch and roller skating disco parties in Las Vegas. http://thetraveljoint.com/

These are their thoughts on the future of cannabis as we enter the world of social use tourism…

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA GOING WITH ITS LEGALIZATION IN CALIFORNIA?

Brannon Zimbelman of The Travel Joint: We think that California will be one of the largest Cannabis Tourism markets second only to Las Vegas.

Duke Rodriguez of Ultra Health: I generally like to avoid the reference of recreational use because it gives it a flippant kind of careless activity. There is no recreational alcohol. I do believe there is social use, which plays into the World Health Organization’s definition of health as physical, mental and social wellbeing. If cannabis helps people of adult age perform better and gives them social competence, then that is great for them and their communities.

The cannabis adult use culture experience really started its path in Colorado and was eventually passed on to the state of Washington. Ultimately, it will be passed on to California where it will become the standard bearer of how cannabis will be treated in the country.

Krista Whitley of Social Media Unicorn: California is an interesting market to watch because they are the largest unregulated medical marijuana market in the United States. I think the greatest opportunity is for them to implement some of the best practices of established regulated medical marijuana markets as quickly as possible, so that they can build on those as they roll out regulated adult use throughout the state.

As the world’s sixth largest economy it is not an easy challenge to implement the regulations that will keep all cannabis consumers safe while maintaining the authentic cannabis culture that California is known for. I see that by 2019 California will be a thriving cannabis economy, with the same innovative products cannabis consumers have come to love and additional safeguards that will ensure a healthy cannabis experience for everyone.

Brannon Zimbelman: We have extensive 420 rental properties around the country. When cannabis became recreationally legal in California we began focusing our travel destination energy in Los Angeles and Napa Valley. In the coming months we’re launching two properties in Napa with 24 hour concierge service.

Duke Rodriguez: The California model will result in how the country will approach cannabis not only from a medical standpoint but from a social standpoint. California will probably be the first state to more progressively look at the open consumption of cannabis and will have more definitive standards in areas we have not defined well previously.

Packaging, for example. California will have to make sure it will not advocate for packaging that encourages underage individuals from buying cannabis and seeing it. Colorado started with the gummy bears, and it was cute but they started to realize it had complications. We don’t need cannabis containers looking like PEZ dispensers to have a successful social program. California also has the opportunity to set up a model for the rest of the country to emulate because the state can learn from missteps Colorado has made in the past. Because of California’s extensive industry, it will bring out more sophisticated and elegant packaging, designs, and products.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA GOING WITH ITS LEGALIZATION IN NEVADA?

Duke Rodriguez: Outside of California, Nevada is likely to be the only state to really challenge the cannabis tourism category. This is especially true with the introduction of the U.S. Las Vegas Cannabis Cup, being the first ever adult use Cannabis Cup as well as the first to be hosted by a Tribal Nation. Las Vegas has clearly established itself as an entertainment center, moving beyond adult entertainment to full family entertainment. I feel that the largest “California dispensary” is likely to be located in Las Vegas, and a good number of Californians will be securing their cannabis tourism experience in Las Vegas. In many ways due to proximity, Nevada and particularly Las Vegas will be an extension of the California cannabis tourism experience.

Krista Whitley: Nevada is home for me, so I know that I’m biased. Nevada has done an excellent job putting an effective regulated medical marijuana program in place that seeks to serve its’ patients. Of course, the recent MJ Freeway technology roadblock was a setback, but overall the state leadership, industry leadership, and patient advocates have worked incredibly hard to meet the needs of all medical marijuana patients. I anticipate that adult use recreational marijuana will be launched to dispensaries in Nevada by the end of summer 2017, serving the over 42 million visitors each year and residents that include the medical marijuana patients that continue to grow.

Brannon Zimbelman: When we started the Travel Joint 4 years ago we were going to setup our offices in Colorado, but we ultimately decided on Las Vegas because we knew when recreational use broke in Nevada our city was going to be the ultimate cannabis destination location.

Duke Rodriguez: With Las Vegas’ 43 million visitors each year, it is expected and will definitely meet the call of becoming a tourism capital of cannabis. Nevada also has the advantage of being geographically closer to states without adult use or any cannabis legislation at all. This will give the state and especially the city of Las Vegas the upper hand in attracting consumers from Utah, Idaho, Arizona and even New Mexico. California is already land locked by other states with cannabis legislation.

Krista Whitley: Specialty cannabis products will thrive in the recreational marijuana market in Nevada for the same reasons that unique products have always thrived in Las Vegas: tourists love splurging on something new that they can’t get anywhere else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a $10,000 table at a fancy nightclub with bottle service or the $5000 Fleur Burger at Fleur Las Vegas, visitors in Las Vegas are looking for once in a lifetime opportunities to splurge and premium cannabis products will find their opportunity in this fabulous market.

Duke Rodriguez: The title of the “Cannabis Capital” will be determined within the next 12 and 24 months as the industry rapidly expands.

WHAT HINDRANCES DO YOU SEE IN REGARDS TO RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA?

Duke Rodriguez: Denver, Colorado, is the first city in the nation to pass legislation on open consumption. These concepts that seemed radical in the past will become the common theme. I would advise most of these communities that they need to be open to trying some of these new festivals and environments for cannabis to be experienced. By restricting communities and not being open to the possibilities, these events will go to providers who can do it under positive conditions including Tribal Nations.

Public officials and members of the public should take the time to go to the U.S. Las Vegas Cannabis Cup or other cannabis centric events to experience the environment and find out how safe and secure it really is. It’s not going to turn into a drug laden, Woodstock kind of experience. There won’t be mad hysteria in the streets or Reefer Madness. There are people with education and sophistication at these events, and most newcomers will learn it is a very professionally safe, musical event of education, discovery and social interaction.

Krista Whitley: California has such a unique cannabis culture that embraces cannabis collectives, homemade cannabis products, and cultivators who have been working in the shadows for decades. I love the authenticity and passion, but there is a great opportunity for the California regulators to connect with these entrepreneurs to ensure that regulation protects the consumer without squashing the innovation that has thrived in the cannabis community.

Duke Rodriguez: I have been to some county and state fairs that felt more unsafe than what a Cannabis Cup normally feels like. Cannabis events are very peaceful where people are simply chilling. People are more likely to be seen napping than getting into a drunken fist fight or someone spilling a beer on your favorite jacket

WHAT PRECEDENTS HAVE OTHER STATES SET FOR CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA AS IT NAVIGATES ITSELF INTO THE WORLD OF CANNA-TOURISM?

Duke Rodriguez: Other states have select areas of tourism, and that translates to cannabis too. For example, Colorado’s tourism is heavily based around skiing. Washington’s is based on outdoor activities. California is all of that plus more. It will have cannabis tourism along the coastal areas, in wine country, around major metropolitans like Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.

Krista Whitley: Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada all offer several established precedents for California regulators to follow. From Nevada’s seed to sale zero loss regulations that follow cannabis from cultivation to dispensary to Washington’s recreational shops, California faces a unique opportunity to learn from what has worked in each of these markets to ensure the safety of all cannabis consumers.

Brannon Zimbelman: We manage a cannabis cowboy ranch in Colorado. At that property, we work with local dispensaries to bring in five star chefs who cook with marijuana. It’s about enhancing your travel experience, not eclipsing it. When you got on a trip to Napa you don’t spend the whole time drunk. It’s the same thing with cannabis.

Duke Rodriguez: Tourism is so big in California it is near impossible not to expect adult use cannabis to have a major impact in the state. Cannabis, if it is properly introduced, doesn’t have to be viewed as a counter to the wine, alcohol or theme park industries. It’s a clean industry that can coexist and enhance the experience of those activities.

Colorado, being the first state to adopt broad legalization, seriously confirmed the existence and emergence of the green rush. California and Nevada’s opportunities are more broad than other states because they will be competing with each other – more competition breeds more innovation. California and Nevada have very high populations as well. These states are likely to take that proven green rush, and turn it into a statewide, regional green stampede of tourism.

WHAT SUGGESTIONS WOULD YOU OFFER TO THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES TO BECOME A MAJOR PLAYER IN THE WORLD OF CANNABIS Tourism?

Duke Rodriguez: There is no question that Los Angeles is positioned to be the single largest cannabis market in the United States, if not the world. The city has every entertainment option known to consumers today. Now, it will expand that offering with adult use cannabis tourism. The only advice I would give Los Angeles is to put no bounds on the discovery of new and innovative cannabis uses in its communities and with its visitors is at this early stage.

Los Angeles has the opportunity to embrace and welcome cannabis and build off its already strong foothold in the entertainment industry. I look forward to having events like the U.S. Las Vegas Cannabis Cup, even some the size of Coachella, on Tribal lands in California also. Non Tribal entities will need to be willing to provide an atmosphere as receptive and experience of positive as the Tribes are offering.

WHAT SUGGESTIONS WOULD YOU OFFER TO THE CITY OF LAS VEGAS TO BECOME A MAJOR PLAYER IN THE WORLD OF CANNABIS TOURSIM?

Duke Rodriguez: Las Vegas manages to continually raise the standards for entertainment. The Wynn Hotel just announced a project which will include a major outdoor waterpark. The city has just acquired a new hockey team, and it is highly probable the Oakland Raiders will become the Las Vegas Raiders. And next month Las Vegas is hosting the first ever adult use Cannabis Cup hosted on Native land.

I would recommend Las Vegas to double the pace and accelerate their adoption to compete with their neighboring state, and to keep the ball rolling with these adult use events to edge out the competition in Los Angeles and other cities.

Another example is in Las Vegas, open consumption of alcohol is allowed on The Strip and the downtown areas. Now these communities have to answer the question will we allow the open consumption of Cannabis? I think the public is ready for it but the regulators have to accept it.

WHAT DO YOU SEE THE OVERALL FUTURE OF MARIJUANA TOURISM PROGRESSING?

Krista Whitley: Coming from Las Vegas I have seen what Sin City does better than anywhere else in the world: create themed experiences. Not everyone is a Bellagio person, but if that isn’t a fit there is New York New York or MGM down the street. Embracing the different experiences that a cannabis consumer would want to have with thoughtful regulation will build a foundation for a thriving cannabis tourism experience. Supporting the small businesses and cannabis community leaders as they create businesses and organizations who will be providing these unique cannabis consumer experiences will be key to success.

Duke Rodriguez: Every state in the country is engaged in tourism, but no two states are engaged at the level of California and Nevada. Whatever these states choose to do will affect cities like Santa Monica all the way to Detroit and even Miami.

Jumping to immediate declaration of activities that won’t be allowed may prohibit the emergence of interest and drive consumers to other locations. For instance, if Los Angeles becomes overly restrictive, and Las Vegas becomes less restrictive, consumers will drive demand to Las Vegas. For any of these communities to be successful, there’s going to be some trial and error as well as communication with authorities.

Brannon Zimbelman: A lot of stuff is going to change. We plan to just grow at the industry grows. We want to do everything right with what we can. We take every single customer from start to finish and make sure they have a fantastic travel experience. As we expand we want to be the best travel site, not the best cannabis travel site.

Duke Rodriguez: In regards to the U.S. Las Vegas Cannabis Cup, it has required a little bit of dialogue with the state agencies as to what the existing licensees will be allowed to do. There will need to be openness to find out how we go into these areas that have not previously had a need to be defined.

The U.S. Las Vegas Cannabis Cup is a hugely important stepping stone in elevating all adult use cannabis tourism, but has a special impact on the city of Las Vegas. While the next few years play out, we will begin to see both Las Vegas and Los Angeles in particular grab this consumer-driven cannabis market by the horns and provide the already existing population of social cannabis users a sense of wellness and entertainment that has yet to be discovered here in the United States.

The medical cannabis products include rectal and vaginal suppositories, transdermal pain relief patches and treatment of pain, burns and psoriasis.

Jewish Business News

Published on March 2, 2017

Israeli pharmaceutical company Panaxia Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, specializing in medical cannabis R&D and manufacturing, and Ultra Health, New Mexico’s No. 1 cannabis company with a nationwide presence, launched their first medical cannabis production facility in the United States.

Based in Bernalillo, New Mexico, the facility will manufacture smokeless, accurately dosed cannabis medicine in a variety of delivery methods.

Although Panaxia pharmaceutical Industries produces more than 300 different conventional medication products, the company has been developing and manufacturing medical products based on cannabis since 2010.

Panaxia is providing smokeless proprietary cannabinoid dosage and treatment protocols, which are not readily available in the United States, in order to manufacture state-of-the-art products to treat a number of illnesses. The production facility is implementing Panaxia’s technology.

The smokeless products include sublingual and oral tablets, rectal and vaginal suppositories, cannabis oil, pastilles, transdermal pain relief patches and topical creams for the treatment of pain, burns and psoriasis. They are beneficial to current chronic conditions requiring ongoing dosing such as PTSD, chronic pain, cancer, neuropathy pain, epilepsy, anorexia and HIV/AIDS.

“The new 18 smokeless-designed cannabis products are providing better delivery systems for patients and physicians by delivery of a fully potent, targeted dosage specifically tailored to the patient’s needs,” said Duke Rodriguez, CEO and President of Ultra Health. “Patients will also have the opportunity to purchase products containing only Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), products containing only Cannabidiol, (CBD) as well as products with an equal THC and Cannabidiol (CBD) ratio.”

Dr. Dadi Segal, CEO of Panaxia said “It is history in the making for an Israeli company to bring the tidings to the citizens of New Mexico. Panaxia is part of an organization that has been active in the Israeli and global pharmaceutical industry for more than 40 years.”

Sharon Udasin / The Jerusalem Post

Published on March 2, 2017

An Israeli and New Mexican company have joined forces to launch the first-ever pharmaceutical cannabis production lab in the United States.

The Lod-based Panaxia Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Ultra Health have opened a facility in Bernalillo, New Mexico, that will manufacture smokeless, accurately dosed cannabis medication in a variety of delivery methods, the companies announced this week in a joint statement.

Pharmaceutical Daily News

Published on March 2, 2017

First pharmaceutical cannabis factory was open in the USA on Tuesday, as Ultra Health, New Mexico’s first cannabis company with a nationwide presence, and Panaxia Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, an Israeli pharmaceutical company specializing in pharmaceutical cannabis R&D and manufacturing launched their facility in Bernalillo, New Mexico.

The factory will produce smokeless, accurately dosed cannabis medicine in a variety of delivery methods.

Panaxia is providing smokeless proprietary cannabinoid dosage and treatment protocols, which are not readily available in the United States.

The new 18 products include sublingual and oral tablets, rectal and vaginal suppositories, cannabis oil, pastilles, transdermal pain relief patches and topical creams for the treatment of pain, burns and psoriasis. According to  They are beneficial to current chronic conditions requiring ongoing dosing such as PTSD, chronic pain, cancers, neuropathy pain, epilepsy, anorexia and HIV/AIDS. The products will be available at the end of March.

By Andy Lyman / The NM Political Report

Published on March 1, 2017

In New Mexico, lawmakers have debated acceptable uses of medical marijuana and some have questioned if cannabis producers are allowed to have enough medical cannabis to qualify as an “adequate supply” for patients.

While politicians and medical cannabis advocates in Santa Fe argue over appropriate plant numbers, getting actual numbers from the agency that governs the program is difficult—despite the fact that producers are required to use specific software to track all transactions.

Despite the plethora of debates and discussion, cannabis transaction data from the state is either unavailable or state employees do not know how to access it.

In almost every legislative discussion about New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program, producers and patients sell their respective claims on how much medical cannabis should be available in the state. Depending on what day and who is speaking, the state could be in a shortage that amounts to a crisis or have such a glut of cannabis that producers have to unload product to each other.

The New Mexico Department of Health oversees the cannabis program, regulating how much cannabis each producer can grow. But now, one Democratic state senator from Albuquerque is trying to affect procedure though statute instead of department rules.

Sen. Cisco McSorley’s SB 177 would put into law exactly how many plants each producer can have. If passed, the bill would expand producers’ plant limit to 1,000 each. That, coupled with a fairly broad patient expansion, alarmed one prominent producer.

Duke Rodriguez, who runs the medical cannabis company Ultra Health, has long been an outspoken opponent of DOH’s limit on production. Currently each producer can only grow 450 plants. Rodriguez told NM Political Report the medical cannabis program is the only industry that has a state-mandated limit on production.

“We have yet to tell the microbreweries how much they can brew,” Rodriguez said.

Other producers from around the state not only dispute that the shortages exist, but say there is such an excess of cannabis, producers sell products to each other wholesale.

Jarrett Hines-Kay sells cannabis exclusively to other producers through wholesale transactions as CEO of Seven Points Farms in Santa Fe. Hines-Kay wouldn’t say exactly how much cannabis he has on hand or how much he typically sells, but he did tell NM Political Report he hasn’t seen any signs of a shortage or a dwindling supply.

“It’s hard for me to see that,” Hines-Kay said.

Erik Briones, who operates the Minerva Canna Group, also disputed there is a shortage of cannabis.

“I made a few phone calls and out of four producers there’s easily 5 pounds wholesale [available],” Briones said.

Anecdotes aside, actual data about how much and how often cannabis is sold wholesale could prove helpful weeding through the rhetoric.

Opinions and even data are likely to differ when polling patients and producers, but most agree that the program’s governing agency, DOH, should be able to provide objective data regarding wholesale cannabis sales.

But if DOH responses to NM Political Report are indicative of what is being tracked by the department, more speculation is likely to follow.

NM Political Report repeatedly emailed and called two different DOH spokesmen and the medical cannabis program manager, yet received only limited information.

One spokesman said the department allows wholesale transactions, and added that producers consider the number of plants, the yield per plant and harvest schedule when deciding to exchange products on the wholesale level.

Producers in New Mexico are required by DOH to use software from a Florida company to track sales, purchases and on-hand inventory. The company, BioTrackTHC, boasts on its website its “comprehensive product suite increases transparency and accountability by monitoring key data points during cultivation, harvest, extraction, packaging, transport, and dispensing.”

Briones said he knows first hand how strict DOH is when it comes to requiring producers to account for their respective products.

“We can not transfer a gram without a manifest,” Briones said.

While Rodriguez and Briones may disagree on plant limits, they both say DOH has the wholesale data.

“It does exist in BioTrack,” Rodriguez said.

In lieu of personal responses from DOH, NM Political Report filed a public records request for any and all documents regarding wholesale transaction reports. In a manual for BioTrackTHC software, a “Wholesale Transaction Report” is specifically mentioned. But the department responded saying they had no such records. State law does not require public entities to create reports specifically for a records request.

In a second, more broadly worded, records request NM Political Report asked for any documents related to wholesale transactions.

In response, DOH provided memorandums of understanding and letters from producers to the department stating the intention to take part in inter-producer business.

This week, DOH updated its quarterly report of producers and plants. The report includes how many patients were served, an estimate of how much product was sold and an educated guess of how much cannabis is being sold for. Nowhere in the report is a mention of how much producers are selling to each other.

For now, conflicting claims and reports by producers may continue. But, Briones said DOH has to have records regarding wholesale transactions.

“They’re not being honest with you,” Briones said.

By Robert Salas / New Mexico In Depth

Published on February 2, 2017

SANTA FE – New Mexico would have about 250,000 potential customers of cannabis should the state legalize adult recreational use of cannabis, an economist told the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee on Wednesday. And those consumers would purchase roughly $412 million worth of the drug in the first year.

The data was produced by Kelly O’Donnell, an economist who served as director of state tax policy, deputy cabinet secretary for economic development, and superintendent of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department during Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration. She now works as a consultant. Her report was commissioned by Ultra Health, a New Mexico provider of medical marijuana. To derive her estimates, she utilized in part survey data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which was produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Of those potential customers, she estimated in the report that 138,000 live in New Mexico and 119,000 live in Texas within 200 miles of the New Mexico border.

Noting that 44 percent of Colorado’s market is from out-of-state tourists, O’Donnell emphasized the potential boost from Texas consumers should New Mexico legalize cannabis.

“Unlike Colorado, we have a big border with Texas,” she told committee members. “We have almost as many potential users of marijuana within a couple hundred miles of the New Mexico border on the Texas side as in all of New Mexico.”

Her report did not include estimates of tax revenue the state would bring in, but did include job estimates: 11,400 new manufacturing and marketing jobs, and 4,780 jobs in businesses that service the cannabis industry.

O’Donnell was joined in her presentation by Emily Kaltenbach, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance of New Mexico. The two pointed to a range of benefits of legalization, including tax revenue, job creation, and a reduction of criminal prosecution for marijuana possession.

But not all senators on the panel were convinced of the benefits of legalization.

“You mentioned all the benefits, is there any downside to this?” Sen. William E. Sharer, R-Farmington, asked.

O’Donnell replied that in her analysis she didn’t see a potential downside because a shift from an illicit market to a regulated legal market would generate revenue, creates jobs and also undercut crime and public safety issues.

Sharer said he’d read studies that the state of Colorado has seen an increase in medical costs since legalizations, in part due to medical issues related to things such as car accidents.

“We don’t have any stoned and driving laws, so we don’t know,” he said. “We don’t know what stoned and driving is until you crash into a train a die.”

Kaltenbach replied that traffic fatalities in Colorado had not increased due to marijuana use and that public education is necessary when such a huge policy shift is considered.

“When you actually build a legal and regulated system, you need to build in prevention and education efforts for young people,” she said.

Still not convinced of the economic benefits of legalization, Sharer said that New Mexico can grow its economy in other ways, such as becoming the center for energy in the Southwest by investing in air, solar and nuclear power.

“I don’t think this is positive or negative, economically, it’s certainly not the great answer to all of our economic woes,” he said.

Sen. Clemente Sanchez, D-Grants, raised questions around the enforcement of federal law by the new administration of President Donald Trump, who has appointed Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, as his attorney general. Sessions is on the record opposing marijuana legalization.

Kaltenbach said that it’s a waiting game to see what the new attorney general will do but she’s optimistic.

“If we were to legalize here, it would be a couple of years, if that, before sales happen,” she said. “And so, I think we will have a lot to learn in those couple of years. I do think that states are a laboratory success, in that we should move forward with something like this and there are other states that are paving the way in front of us.”

O’Donnell and Kaltenbach fielded a wide range of questions from Senators, in a conversation that last more than an hour.

By Rachel Sapin / Albuquerque Business First

Published on December 22, 2016

A Democrat-controlled state legislature in 2017 has some Democratic lawmakers hopeful that recreational use of cannabis could become legal in New Mexico.

Duke Rodriguez, owner and CEO of Ultra Health LLC, one of the state’s 35 licensed nonprofit medical cannabis producers, is also optimistic about that. He said the state’s more liberal political climate along with a fast-growing consumer base could make 2017 the year the “green rush” goes all the way in New Mexico.

Rodriguez said he is confident that even if Gov. Susana Martinez vetoes any measures by the state’s lawmakers to make recreational cannabis legal, a constitutional amendment that would let voters decide has a good chance of passing this year in light of the state’s $69 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year.

“Republican and Democratic legislators have both said in the current environment, everything is on the table. That includes cannabis,” he said.

Following news that legalized marijuana accounted for nearly $1 billion in sales and $135 million in sales-tax revenue in Colorado in 2015, California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada passed ballot measures legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, bringing the total number of states allowing recreational use to eight.

Rodriguez said Ultra Health is expecting New Mexico’s medical marijuana industry to expand next year, thanks to new legislation. He said this year, he anticipates the state could allow medical marijuana producers to grow up to 4,500 plants. The state currently only allows producers to grow up to 450.

“That we’re fully anticipating and preparing for,” Rodriguez said.

He said if the plant count goes up for producers, he expects the state’s medical cannabis program to double in size.

According to the New Mexico Department of Health, there are 32,840 medical cannabis card holders in New Mexico. In 2013, that number was about 10,000, and the Albuquerque Journal reports that a year ago, there were 14,000 card holders.

Other players in the field are expanding too. This year the Verdes Foundation, which employs roughly 40 people, opened its second location in Rio Rancho. With over $1 million in total receipts as of July, The Verdes Foundation averages 250 clients per day.

HIGH TIMES

Published on November 22, 2016

Just days after Nevada voted to legalize marijuana for all adults 21 and over, HIGH TIMES announced plans for the first-ever Las Vegas Cannabis Cup. The iconic magazine’s premiere event and competition will serve as the official kick-off to the 2017 HIGH TIMES Live & Legal Cannabis Experience Tour.

Presented in partnership with Ultra Health, this pioneering celebration of the new and evolving world of legal cannabis will take place March 4 and 5 at the Moapa River Indian Reservation, just a short ride away from the famous Las Vegas Strip.

“We’re so proud of Nevada for continuing our national march towards legalization and showing that this community should be celebrated, not denigrated,” said Mary McEvoy, HIGH TIMES’ Chief Events Officer. “So naturally, we’re planning one of our biggest and best Cannabis Cups ever to usher in this new era in a style befitting of Las Vegas’s reputation.”

By approving Question 2, Nevada voters legalized the creation of a regulated commercial cannabis industry, while allowing all adults 21 and over to legally possess up to one ounce of cannabis or 1/8 of an ounce of concentrated cannabis, effective Jan. 1, 2017.

“HIGH TIMES has always been synonymous with cannabis, and Las Vegas with entertainment,” said Duke Rodriguez, CEO and President of Ultra Health. “We are pleased to partner with HIGH TIMES in the ultimate celebration of social and medical cannabis use and setting the standard for future landmark events.”

Since 1987, HIGH TIMES has hosted Cannabis Cups around the world to celebrate cannabis with music, speakers, vendors and interactive cannabis experiences, where attendees can learn hands-on about cultivation, legalization and connoisseurship, while coming together as a community to take part in the world’s premiere cannabis competition.

The HIGH TIMES Las Vegas Cannabis Cup will feature a live cannabis grow room, live trimming, a cannabis chef cooking competition, edibles seminars, product launches and more—like a World’s Fair of Weed. Musical acts and speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

And of course, HIGH TIMES will crown the top three winners in each of the 13 Cannabis Cup competition categories. The Cannabis Cup is the original and highest honor of independently lab tested and judged cannabis products, and winners represent the best in Nevada and the United States.

Tickets go on sale for the 2017 U.S. Cannabis Cup in Las Vegas beginning Thursday, November 24th, 2016 on CannabisCup.com. Single Day, Weekend and VIP ticket options, complete with transportation to and from the Cup, will be made available.

By Coleen Heild / Albuquerque Journal

Published on November 5, 2016

When a three-week-old medical marijuana seedling named Dorothy made her public debut at the New Mexico State Fair in September, state officials scrambled to pull the plug on her appearance.

Now the New Mexico medical cannabis company that sponsored Dorothy’s field trip is facing state sanctions that could cost the company more than $100,000, said Duke Rodriguez, owner and CEO of Ultra Health LLC, one of the state’s 35 licensed medical cannabis producers.

“With this kind of damage to our reputation, to our patients, and to our ongoing business, we certainly are going to defend this,” Rodriguez told the Journal on Friday. A hearing on the appeal on the matter is set for Nov. 30 in Santa Fe.

The seedling was slated for a 10-day stint at a booth Ultra Health rented at the fair, but the plant was ejected on opening day, Sept. 8, after New Mexico State Police and fair officials were notified.

Rodriguez told the Journal the seedling was “displayed wholly for educational purposes.”

But health department officials informed Ultra Health that removing the medical marijuana plant from the company’s Bernalillo production facility to the State Fair violated state law that requires cannabis production facilities “be housed on secured grounds.”

“The removal of a cannabis plant to an off-site location constituted both a change of location for the nonprofit producer’s production and a substantial change to the entity’s production plan,” states a Sept. 16 letter to Ultra Health from state medical cannabis program director Kenny Vigil.

The penalty imposed is suspension of “all sales and distribution” by the company for five days, and a $100 fine, according to the letter.

Rodriguez told the Journal the sanction is an overreaction.

“Never did we say we were intending to produce, cultivate or distribute cannabis for the state fairgrounds,” he said.

As for the security concerns, Rodriguez told the Journal, “The plant was under the control and administration of our licensed personnel the entire time and the maximum amount of time that the plant stayed on that campus was less than nine hours,” Rodriguez said. He said the seedling wasn’t flowering and had only trace levels of THC, a mind-altering ingredient in marijuana.

“If they would simply have left it at a $100 fine we might be open to a settlement of such a minor fine, but what they have proposed is a sanction greater in value than $100,000,” Rodriguez said. “The $100,000 is just the immediate cash impact. The long-term damage to the program and the patients is even greater.”

New Mexico has authorized more than 30,000 cardholders to legally use pot for any one of more than 20 medical conditions.

“For example, in Hobbs, we are 95 percent of the market,” Rodriguez said. “Those patients will have no alternative other than going back to the black market to secure their medicine, which is the absolute wrong message to patients or for the program.”