New Mexico Marijuana Business Licenses
Status: In New Mexico, all individuals 21 years and older may possess, consume, and purchase marijuana. All individuals with a legal prescription may possess and use medical marijuana. State licensed businesses may grow, process, transport, and dispense marijuana.
| CBD Program | Medical Program | Recreational Program | Are Applications Open? |
| Legal | Legal | Legal | Open |
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Number of New Mexico Marijuana Business Licenses Licenses Available
| Dispensaries | Cultivation | Manufacturing/Processing | Transportation |
| TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
You can read the full text of the New Mexico Marijuana Business Licenses law at: www.nmlegis.gov
New Mexico Adult-Use Cannabis Business License Guidelines
The new Cannabis Control Division will license 10 types of cannabis businesses:
- Cannabis Manufacturer – manufactures cannabis products; packages cannabis products; has cannabis products tested by a cannabis testing laboratory; or purchases, acquires, sells or transports wholesale cannabis products to other cannabis establishments
- License Fee: up to $2,500 per year and $1,000 for each additional licensed premises
- Cannabis Producer – cultivates cannabis plants; has unprocessed cannabis products tested by a cannabis testing laboratory; transports unprocessed cannabis products only to other cannabis establishments; or sells cannabis products wholesale
- License Fee: up to $2,500 per year and $1,000 for each additional licensed premises
- Cannabis Retailer – sells cannabis products to qualified patients, primary caregivers, reciprocal participants or directly to consumers
- License Fee: up to $2,500 per year and $1,000 for each additional licensed premises
- Cannabis Courier – transports cannabis products to qualified patients, primary caregivers, reciprocal participants or directly to consumers
- License Fee: up to $1,500 per year and $1,000 for each additional licensed premises
- Cannabis Consumption Area – an area within a licensed location approved by the department where cannabis may be consumed that complies with rule as established by the department
- License Fee: up to $2,500 per year
- Cannabis Research Laboratory – a facility that produces or possesses cannabis products and all parts of the plant genus Cannabis for the purpose of studying cannabis cultivation, characteristics or uses
- License Fee: up to $2,500 per year and $1,000 for each additional licensed premises
- Cannabis Testing Laboratory – samples, collects and tests cannabis products and transports cannabis products for the purpose of testing
- License Fee: up to $2,500 per year and $1,000 for each additional licensed premises
- Vertically Integrated Cannabis Establishment – authorized to act as any of the following: a cannabis courier; a cannabis manufacturer; a cannabis producer; and a cannabis retailer.
- Initial Application Fee: may not exceed $125,000 a year
- License Fee: $7,500 per year, plus $1,000 for each licensed premises
- Cannabis Producer Microbusiness – a cannabis producer at a single licensed location that possesses no more than two hundred total mature cannabis plants at any one time
- License Fee: up to $1,000 per year
- Integrated Cannabis Microbusiness – production of cannabis at a single licensed premises; provided that the person shall not possess more than two hundred total mature cannabis plants at any one time; manufacture of cannabis products at a single licensed premises; sales and transportation of only cannabis products produced or manufactured by that person; operation of only one retail establishment; and couriering of cannabis products to qualified patients, primary caregivers, reciprocal participants or directly to consumers;
- License Fee: up to $2,500 per year and $500 for each additional licensed premises
RECOMMENDED NEW MEXICO MARIJUANA BUSINESS PLANS:
- Marijuana Business Plan Package
- Marijuana Business Plan Template
- Cultivation Plan Template
- Environmental Plan Template
- Financial Plan Template
- Fire Safety Plan Template
- Inventory Control Plan Template
- Product Safety Plan Template
- Security Plan Template
- Staffing Plan Template
- Suitability of Proposed Facility Plan Template
- Transportation Plan Template
New Mexico Medical Marijuana Non-Profit Producer License Guidelines
A non-profit producer operates a facility and, at any one time, is limited to a combined total of no greater than 450 mature female plants, seedlings and male plants, and an inventory of usable cannabis and seeds that reflects current patient needs, and that shall sell cannabis with a consistent unit price, without volume discounts or promotional sales based on the quantity purchased. A non-profit producer shall not possess a quantity of either mature female plants or seedlings and male plants that exceeds the quantities authorized by their licensure and associated licensing fee. A licensed non-profit producer may sell and distribute usable cannabis to a person or entity authorized to possess and receive it. A licensed non-profit producer may obtain plants, seeds and usable cannabis from other licensed non-profit producers. A licensed non-profit producer shall conduct its production operations at a single, physical location approved by the department. An additional production facility or facilities may be allowed at the department’s discretion if the non-profit producer is approved to grow more than 150 plants.
In 2015 the DOH re-opened the application process for one month to license non-profit producers to add to the existing 23 licensed medical cannabis facilities. The application process closed on May 1, 2015.
- Non-profit producer application fee: A non-profit producer shall submit with its initial application an application fee of ten thousand dollars ($10,000). If the application is denied, the department shall issue a refund of nine thousand dollars ($9,000) to the applicant.
- Non-profit producer license fee: A non-profit producer that is licensed shall submit to the medical cannabis program a non-refundable licensure fee before beginning operations, no earlier than July 1st of each renewal year and no later than August 1st of each renewal year, of: thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) for the first 150 cannabis plants to be possessed by the non-profit producer, and ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each additional quantity of 50 plants thereafter to be possessed, up to a maximum collective total of 450 cannabis plants.
RECOMMENDED NEW MEXICO MARIJUANA BUSINESS PLANS FOR NON-PROFIT PRODUCER APPLICATION:
- Marijuana Business Plan Package
- Marijuana Business Plan Template
- Cultivation Plan Template
- Environmental Plan Template
- Financial Plan Template
- Fire Safety Plan Template
- Inventory Control Plan Template
- Product Safety Plan Template
- Security Plan Template
- Staffing Plan Template
- Suitability of Proposed Facility Plan Template
- Transportation Plan Template
New Mexico Medical Marijuana Manufacturer License Guidelines
A manufacturer means a business entity that manufactures cannabis-derived product that has been approved for this purpose by the medical cannabis program. A manufacturer applicant shall submit an authorized application form to the program with each initial application and renewal application, together with a fee of one thousand dollars ($1,000) issued to the medical cannabis program. A manufacturer applicant shall comply with the application requirements of this rule, and shall submit such other information as the manufacturer applicant wishes to provide or such information as the department may request for initial approval or periodic evaluation(s) during the approval period.
The DOH recently re-opened medical cannabis manufacturer applications. There is currently no established deadline for submission or limit on the number of licenses to be issued.
RECOMMENDED NEW MEXICO MARIJUANA BUSINESS PLANS FOR MANUFACTURER APPLICATION:
New Mexico Medical Marijuana Courier License Guidelines
A courier means a person or entity that transports usable cannabis within the state of New Mexico from a licensed non-profit producer to a qualified patient or primary caregiver, to another non-profit producer, to an approved laboratory, or to an approved manufacturer. A courier may contract with a licensed non-profit producer to deliver usable cannabis from the non-profit producer to qualified patients, primary caregivers, other non-profit producers, approved manufacturers and approved laboratories; a courier that provides service to more than one licensed non-profit producer shall offer their service at a uniform price for all non-profit producers for whom they deliver; an approved courier shall not transport a cannabis product that is not individually packaged, or that is not labeled in accordance with this rule. The department shall issue an identification card to each authorized employee of an approved courier authorizing that individual to transport cannabis from a non-profit producer to a qualified patient or primary caregiver. An employee of an approved courier shall carry the card at all times that the person transports cannabis, and shall present the card to law enforcement officials upon request. Identification cards issued by the department are the property of the department and shall be returned to the department upon an approved courier’s withdrawal from the program, upon the termination of a card holder’s employment with the approved courier, upon suspension or revocation, or upon demand of the department.
RECOMMENDED NEW MEXICO MARIJUANA BUSINESS PLANS FOR COURIER APPLICATION:
The History of New Mexico Marijuana Business Licenses Marijuana
Medical Marijuana:
Governor Bill Richardson signed Senate Bill 523 into law on April 2, 2007, allowing the possession and use of medical cannabis for patients with qualifying medical conditions. The state’s Department of Health (DOH) completed and adopted some rule changes on February of 2015. The department reopened the application process for non-profit producers to add to the existing 23 licensed medical cannabis facilities for a month- the application process closed on May 1, 2015.
On April 5, 2019, Governor Michelle Lujan signed SB 406 into law which will make substantial changes to the state’s medical marijuana law, some of which will require new rules and regulations to be written by the state’s health department. Some of the changes include: allowing medical cannabis in school, allowing reciprocity, creating a new Personal Production license to allow patients in rural areas to grow marijuana and send it to manufacturers to process it into products for them, allowing licensed establishment to have “consumption areas”, and extending the validity of patient registration cards to three years.
The DOH recently re-opened medical cannabis manufacturer applications. There is currently no established deadline for submission or limit on the number of licenses to be issued.
Recreational (Adult-Use) Marijuana:
In the beginning of the 2021 legislative session, a bill to legalize adult-use cannabis was introduced. The bill, HB12, easily passed out of the House of Representatives last month. The measure was favored by cannabis reform advocates because of its strong social equity provisions. However, the bill became delayed in the Senate as lawmakers pushed to make amendments to the nearly 200-page bill. In order to make the legislative deadline on the night of March 20, the full Senate would have needed to vote and pass the measure back to the House to sign off on changes. Since this wasn’t attainable, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called lawmakers back for a special session to continue the discussion and give lawmakers another opportunity to pass the legislation.
The special session began on March 30, 2021. A legalization bill passed out of two committee hearings during the first day, along with a separate bill to automatically expunge past cannabis convictions. Both measures soon advanced to full floor votes and passed out of the legislature on March 31. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the bill into law on April 12, 2021.
The legalization bill, known as the Cannabis Regulation Act, is a revised version of HB 12, the legislation that lawmakers were previously considering during the regular legislative session. A new Cannabis Control Division will be created within the Regulation and Licensing Department. The division will be responsible for drafting specific licensing and business regulations by January 1, 2022 and issuing business licenses to qualified applicants by April 1, 2022.