By Jacqueline Devine / Alamogordo Daily News
Published on August 28, 2017

Ultra Health, New Mexico’s number one medical cannabis company, will officially be opening its doors today and will be in service seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

This will be Ultra Health’s eighth location in New Mexico. The opening comes after a long-awaited inspection from the New Mexico Department of Health.

According to a press release from Ultra Health, it initially submitted its amendment to open a dispensary in Alamogordo in May 2016. There are currently more than 45,000 enrollees in the state’s Medical Cannabis Program, 980 are from Otero County.

The Medical Cannabis Program was made possible by the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act which was passed by the New Mexico Legislature in 2007.

The Senate bill states that licensed producers are exclusively granted the authority to produce, possess, distribute and dispense cannabis.

“There is a current limitation on how many plants a producer can grow in New Mexico, the cap is at 450 plants. It is the most restrictive model and regulation that any state department has made for producers producing medical cannabis,” said Ultra Health Communications Manager Marissa Novel. “The New Mexico Department of Health took it upon themselves to assume that we were unable to stock our dispensary in Alamogordo because of the plant count that they put in regulation. We believe they are now recognizing those rights, that’s why they finally let us open the store. We bought 200 pounds of cannabis to stock this dispensary.”

Novel said Ultra Health is excited to show the community what they have to offer despite some negative reactions.
“We’re excited to finally engage with the community on a personal level,” said Novel. “I think the stigma really comes from a lot of the propaganda that has been in our country for so long. It basically wanted to scare people into thinking that cannabis was a dangerous drug and that it shouldn’t be used. I think it’s taken a while for the country to overcome that propaganda that was issued by the government and the media.”

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), currently there are two main cannabinoids from the marijuana plant that are of medical interest, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).

THC can increase appetite and reduce nausea. THC may also decrease pain, inflammation (swelling and redness) and muscle control problems, according to NIH.

Unlike THC, CBD is a cannabinoid that doesn’t involve giving patients a high. It may be useful in reducing pain and inflammation, controlling epileptic seizures and possibly even treating mental illness and addictions, according to NIH.

“Chronic pain is the second largest qualifying condition that people in New Mexico need to have to qualify for medical cannabis,” said Novel. “Granted, I will say there is still a lot of research coming out on cannabis and the side effects but I think the message is for people that have exhausted all other methods to medicate safely. A lot of times it’s cheaper than other medications would be.”
“We think that’s important because this is all a part of our effort to give medical cannabis patients in rural communities access to a full time dispensary so they don’t have to drive hours on end to seek an alternative method for medication,” said Ultra Health Communications Manager Marissa Novel
According to NIH’s website, many researchers, including those funded by the NIH are continuing to explore the possible uses of THC, CBD and other cannabinoids for medical treatment.

However, the cannabinoids has led to two Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medications that contain cannabinoid chemicals in pill form. Continued research may lead to more medications.

Novel said the dispensary in town will be extremely beneficial to the community because there is almost 1,000 certified patients and counting in the county.

“I think it is especially important to the community being that there was no other dispensary in Otero County. There are 980 patients, almost 1,000, living in Otero County and this is the first dispensary location that they’ve had,” she said. “We think that’s important because this is all a part of our effort to give medical cannabis patients in rural communities access to a full time dispensary so they don’t have to drive hours on end to seek an alternative method for medication.”

Novel said Ultra Health offers a variety of medical cannabis products that include concentrated oils to baked goods containing the cannabis.

“We have the flower which is the regular cannabis in plant form. There are edibles such as baked goods, concentrates and concentrated oils from the flower that people can use,” said Novel. “We currently partnered with an Israeli pharmaceutical company that manufactures medical cannabis into oral tablets and sublingual tablets that dissolve under the tongue. Plus we also offer patches that can be worn discreetly and much more.”

Anyone interested in applying for the Medical Cannabis Program can download an application on the New Mexico Department of Health’s website.

“Before people send in their application to the Department of Health, they must need a nurse practitioner or a doctor to certify them for medical cannabis,” said Novel. “They will give them an exam and give them a recommendation. The application would need to be mailed to the New Mexico Department of Health. The examinations may cost up to $100 but the card is free from the Department of Health.”

On Friday, Ultra Health is inviting the community to join them for their grand opening ceremony.

Novel said Ultra Health will be giving away prizes and more. Peace Medical will also be onsite and will be offering free consultations on how to obtain a medical cannabis card. Medical providers will also be in attendance to complete certifications.

For more information on obtaining a medical cannabis ID card visit the NMDOH’s website.

By Ron Davis / Albuquerque Business First
Published on July 25, 2017

We’re introducing our 34 Best Places to Work finalists daily leading up to our awards event Aug. 17 at Main Event Entertainment, where our Best Places rankings will be revealed.

Our survey partner, Quantum Workplace, administered anonymous workplace satisfaction surveys of employees at companies that were nominated by the public. The companies that received the highest scores are our Best Places finalists.

Meet Ultra Heath, a medical cannabis company and a finalist in the medium company category, or between 25-49 employees.

Top local exec: Leigh Jenke, President

Employees: 46

Address:

255 Camino Don Tomas., Bernalillo, NM 87004

Phone: 505-280-6693

Website: ultrahealth.com

What is the most popular perk at your office?

I think the biggest perk is the relaxed environment. We can wear comfortable clothing and T-shirts, play music, educate themselves and we celebrate employee suggestions and ideas. We allow people to express themselves and be artistic. We allow our employees to have a large degree of autonomy and when people are trusted and respected they live up to their full potential. As the saying goes, a happy employee is a wonderful employee and Ultra Health loves our employees.
What’s the average tenure of your employees?

We are fairly new in the industry but the majority of our people come to stay. We have even had employees that have taken another job and come back because they missed our working environment.

Are you hiring? If so, for what positions?

We are expanding and plan to open stores in more rural areas of New Mexico.

By Shelby Parea / Albuquerque Business First
Published on July 20, 2017

When it comes to cannabis, usually the discussion concerns revenue and taxes the crop can bring to state and local coffers. But leaders from Ultra Health and PurLife who spoke at a NAIOP breakfast Thursday discussed how New Mexico’s multimillion-dollar industry could also expand and affect real estate.

In 2016, the top 25 medical marijuana companies generated over $46 million in gross receipts and paid over $12.3 million in compensation to their employees.

Ultra Health and PurLife are medical marijuana companies both based in New Mexico.

Darren White is on the board of directors at PurLife, No. 20 on Albuquerque Business First’s Medical Marijuana Companies List. White said he knows the trouble of finding real estate for a cannabis company first hand. PurLife is opening a second location on Eubank and Montgomery this weekend but it took five months of negotiations with property owner Gene Hinkle to make it a reality. White is a former Bernalillo County Sheriff.

But White says times are starting to change and brokers are beginning to come to him and market properties toward his business. Duke Rodriguez, CEO and owner of Ultra Health is hoping even more change is on the horizon.

Rodriguez drew comparisons to Denver and illustrated New Mexico’s potential to be a leader in the next wave of cannabis production if it were legalized for social use in the state.

New Mexico became the 12th state to allow medical cannabis, according to the Department of Health. And eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana, according to Business Insider.

Ultra Health – which is No. 1 on our Medical Marijuana Companies List – leases 15 properties and owns two Rodriguez said and he plans to neg 15 properties more within the year.

“We haven’t had trouble finding locations,” he said. “The only difficulty is getting the state to move along.”

He said commercial cannabis cultivations occupied 4.2 million square feet of real estate in Denver after it was legalized. It was lawyers, bankers and real estate professionals that spearheaded the initiative for legalization, according to Rodriguez.

The Israeli company Panaxia already launched a production facility in Bernalillo, now it will offer smokeless proprietary cannabinoids in New Mexico.

By Sharon Udasin / The Jerusalem Post
Published on July 18, 2017

An Israeli company responsible for the first-ever pharmaceutical cannabis production lab in the United States has now begun selling its smokeless, precisely dosed products in New Mexico.

Together with the Albuquerque- based distributor Ultra Health, the Lod-based Panaxia Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. first launched its production facility in Bernalillo, New Mexico, in March. At the lab, Panaxia has been providing the smokeless proprietary cannabinoid dosage and treatment protocols, which are not readily available in the US, in order to produce a variety of medications for different illnesses.

“We are excited to be the bearers of good news and to offer medical cannabis- based drugs to patients in the state of New Mexico,” said Panaxia CEO Dadi Segal. “In a state inhabited by only 2 million people, about 60,000 of them – about twice as many as in Israel – have a license from the Department of Health to use medical cannabis. We are planning to open more factories in the US, and we are currently in advanced negotiations on the matter.”

Because the US government includes cannabis in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, federal law prohibits producing pharmaceuticals out of the plant on a nationwide scale, Segal told The Jerusalem Post in a March interview. To overcome this hurdle, Panaxia is aiming to establish small production facilities on a state-by-state basis, he explained.

Among the products offered by the partners are sublingual (under the tongue) and oral tablets, rectal and vaginal suppositories, cannabis oil, pastilles, transdermal (through the skin) pain relief patches and topical creams. The medicines are intended for patients with conditions such as PTSD, chronic pain, cancer, neuropathy, epilepsy, anorexia and HIV/AIDS, according to the companies.

The products, Segal explained, are manufactured according to strict pharmacological and therapeutic protocols, and contain a known amount of active ingredients from cannabis extract.

As Panaxia continues to grow in the US, Segal also expressed optimism that the Lod-based company would also soon be able to begin to market products at home.

“We hope that as a result of the completion of the Health Ministry’s regulatory process, we will also be able to sell smokeless, medical cannabis-based products in Israel,” he said.

By John Christian Hopkins / Lake Powell Life
Published on July 2, 2017

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Lee Jack, Sr. has sponsored legislation aimed at making medical marijuana legal on the reservation.

There is a humanitarian need for it, according to one backer of the bill.

Former Vice Presidential candidate Dineh Benally told the council’s Health, Education and Human Services Committee how medical marijuana could have eased his mother’s final months.

Benally said his mom, who had pancreatic cancer, really suffered over the final four months of her life.

“She didn’t have the medication to have a better part of life,” Benally said.

That’s why he has been pushing to legal medical marijuana, he told the committee.

Jack’s legislation would allow businesses to cultivate or produce cannabis – or hemp – for economic, industrial or scientific purposes.

But, to make marijuana legal the tribe would have to amend Title 17, section 391, of the Navajo Nation Code.

Currently the tribe has a “zero tolerance” policy toward marijuana and anyone caught in possession could face up to one year in jail or a $5,000 fine.

Jack said his bill could spur economic development on the reservation.

Benally is hoping the tribe will enter into business with Ultra Health, a New Mexico company that projects having 60,000 patients by the end of the year.

Ultra Health already boasts nearly 43,000 patients, many suffering from chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer, epilepsy, neuropathy, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other disorders.

“What we are doing is educating people that this is not just a joint you can smoke, it’s real medicine,” Ultra Health Vice President Leonard Salgado said.

Navajo Legislative Counsel Rhonda Tuni noted that even if the council approved the measure, it would still take some time before a business could offer medical marijuana.

There would still need to be regulations in place, she said.

Jack’s bill passed the Health, Education and Human Services Committee by a 3-2 margin. It will move on to the Resource and Development Committee.