New Mexico Dispensary Laws

Adults 21 and older are allowed to:

• Possess, purchase, and give other adults up to two ounces of cannabis, up to 16 grams of concentrated marijuana, and 800 milligrams of edible cannabis.
• Create cannabis-infused foods at home or perform extracts that do not involve volatile solvents.
• Possess a larger amount of cannabis, if it is stored in a locked space at the person’s residence that is not visible from public spaces.
• Possess, manufacture, and give away paraphernalia.

The NMDOH maintains a complete list of qualifying conditions. Patients with the following conditions can qualify for medical marijuana use:

• Alzheimer's Disease
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease
• Anorexia
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Cachexia, or wasting syndrome
• Cancer
• Cervical dystonia
• Crohn's disease
• Epilepsy and seizure disorders
• Glaucoma
• Hepatitis C
• HIV/AIDS
• Hospice care
• Huntington's disease
• Inclusion-body myositis
• Inflammatory autoimmune-mediated arthritis
• Intractable nausea or vomiting
• Intractable spasticity
• Lewy body disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Obstructive sleep apnea
• Opioid use disorder
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Parkinson's disease
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Severe chronic pain
• Spinal cord damage
• Spinal muscular atrophy
• Ulcerative colitis

Yes, recreational marijuana can be grown by adults aged 21 or older, but cultivation is prohibited to six mature and six immature cannabis plants, with a maximum of 12 mature plants per household. Cultivation must only take place in an enclosed area where the marijuana plants are not visible to the public.

Qualified patients may apply for a personal production license, allowing them to grow cannabis for personal use.

Cannabis consumption is limited to private property out of public view. Adults, patients, and caregivers may face criminal prosecution or civil penalties for possession, distribution, transfer, or consumption in a school bus or public transportation vehicle, school campuses, workplaces, public parks, recreation centers, or youth centers. Driving under the influence of cannabis is illegal and consumption in a vehicle is prohibited for drivers and passengers.

The Cannabis Control Division, a part of the Regulation and Licensing Department, will create rules to license and regulate cannabis businesses. The Division will license 10 types of cannabis businesses: couriers, producers (growers), manufacturers, retailers, microbusinesses, cannabis consumption areas, vertically integrated establishments, and integrated microbusinesses.

Any qualified applicant can apply for a cannabis dispensary license in New Mexico. Within 90 days of deeming an application complete, the Division will grant or deny the license. Applicants must not haveany  prior convictions related to qualifications, functions or duties. This includes felony convictions involving fraud, embezzlement, or deceit, or involving a minor in drug sales but past cannabis convictions are excluded.

As per the timeline, the CCD started accepting and began processing license applications for all license types in Dec 2021. The Cannabis Control Division will continue accepting applications for producers, microbusiness producers, and medical cannabis businesses on a rolling basis. From January 1, 2022, the Division started accepting applications for all other license types, including cannabis education and training programs.

For more info, please go through the Cannabis Retail Applicant Licensing Checklist.

Fees for most license types are $2,500 per year, plus $1,000 for each licensed premises.

• Courier fees are up to $1,500 per year and $1,000 for each additional licensed premises.
• Integrated microbusiness fees are up to $2,500 per year and $500 for each additional licensed premises.
• Vertically integrated cannabis establishment fees are $7,500 per year, plus $1,000 for each licensed premises.
• Vertically integrated cannabis businesses’ initial application and annual renewal fees cannot exceed $125,000 per license for both medical and adult use.
• Fees are reduced by half for medical dispensaries only.

• Cannabis rules must include procedures that promote and encourage full participation in the cannabis industry governed by the Cannabis Regulation Act by representatives of communities that have been disproportionately harmed by rates of arrest through the enforcement of cannabis prohibitions, rural communities likely to be impacted by cannabis production and agricultural producers from economically disadvantaged communities.
• Rules must include procedures to encourage diversity among applicants, licensees, and staff.
• The Cannabis Control Division will develop a certification for cannabis produced by microbusinesses or licensees that are owned by someone from a community that was disproportionately harmed by cannabis prohibition.
• The Division will produce annual reports on diversity in the industry.

Municipalities and counties may adopt time, place, and manner rules including “rules that reasonably limit the density of licenses and operating times consistent with neighborhood uses.

Cannabis Retail sales are allowed to occur within 300 feet of a lot containing a residential use in a mixed-use zone district with a Conditional Use Approval.

But recent amendments prohibit Cannabis Retail on lots abutting a Main Street corridor, within 300 feet of a residential zone district, group home, or religious institution, and also on-site consumption on lots
abutting a Main Street corridor.

Licensed adult-use cannabis retailers may sell cannabis to adults aged 21 and older, with a valid government-issued identification card, and employees are required to check purchasers’ IDs before making the sale.

Marijuana stores may sell cannabis, cannabis resin, cannabis products, cannabis edibles, cannabis extracts, seedlings, immature marijuana plants, and marijuana paraphernalia.

Yes, Medical marijuana dispensaries that obtain a recreational marijuana dispensary license could operate both entities in the same/shared location.

• A cannabis excise tax is levied on retail sales. It starts at 12% until July 1, 2025, and then increases by one percentage point per year, maxing out at 18% on July 1, 2030. The tax does not apply to any sales to registered patients, caregivers, or visiting patients from other states.
• One-third of the cannabis excise tax revenue will go to the municipality where the sales were made. Another third of the cannabis excise tax revenue will go to the county where the sales were made.
• Gross receipts taxes — which range from 5.125% to 8.8125%, depending on the location in the state — would apply to adult-use, but not medical, cannabis.

There is no set limit on the number of business licensees that could be granted under the program, or the number of facilities a licensee could open, although regulators could stop issuing new licenses if an advisory committee determines that “market equilibrium is deficient.”

The Cannabis Control Division will develop rules — which must be consistent with industry standards — on advertising, health and safety, testing, labeling and packaging, regarding additives (including banning nicotine), quality control, and environmental protections.

Packaging cannot be designed to appeal to minors and must be child-resistant. Warnings must be included on possible adverse events, along with the number for New Mexico’s poison control.

• Advertising is banned on TV, radio, and mass transit, and other than to adults who opt-in or who subscribe to subscription-based media.
• Advertising cannot use predatory marketing targeting minors, use cartoon characters, or mimic other brands.
• The Division will develop rules for cannabis training and education programs.

Yes, cannabis delivery is allowed but only between 7 am and 10 pm, timings that coincide with cannabis retail sales inside a dispensary as well.

Most states require dispensaries and cannabis stores to track and trace all of their cannabis products for regulatory and compliance reporting requirements. Records identifying the source of each ingredient must include the date of receipt of the ingredient, vendor’s name and address, name of the ingredient, etc. A compliant POS software system helps you do all of that without any worries or violations.

There should be records consisting of cannabis transfer information, such as where the dispensary gets its product and how much went into inventory. Inventory should be kept at a minimum each morning, taking into account transfers, sales, disposals, harvests, etc.

New Mexico is currently contracted with BioTrack as the state mandatory tracking system for medical cannabis. The department will likely use the same tracking system for recreational cannabis as well once it establishes regulations. Authorities will always expect an adequate inventory control system for safeguarding records and patient information, especially for medical marijuana.

Yes. Cova's Cannabis Dispensary POS Software and inventory management system adheres to all reporting requirements, can be integrated easily with official reporting systems, including BioTrack, and includes all the features needed to keep cannabis retailers compliant, including:

• ID scanner for age and card verification
• Integrated inventory and sales tracking and reporting
• Built-in product equivalency conversions and purchase limit enforcement.