Cannabis company breaks ground in Clayton

Duke Rodriguez continues to try to position his Ultra Health business to take advantage of growing demand for legal marijuana products.

Not waiting for New Mexico to go beyond allowing cannabis sales only for medicinal purposes, Ultra Health recently broke ground in the community of Clayton for what the company calls “the state’s first custom build-tosuit cannabis dispensary.”

If anyone had any doubts, a news release made clear the strategy being pursued by Ultra, which bills itself as “New Mexico’s No. 1 Cannabis Company.”

The announcement said: “The dispensary, located off U.S. 87 in the most heavily trafficked area in Northeastern New Mexico, is estimated to bring in millions in revenue once the state legalizes cannabis for social use. Much of the estimated revenue is expected to come from out-of-state tourism due to Union County bordering Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.”

Rodriguez pointed to the experience in Trinidad, Colo., a little ways across the state line, where you already don’t need a medical card to buy marijuana, saying border towns should be ready to rake in cannabis dollars.

Ultra, which has opened nine dispensaries in New Mexico and plans to at least double that next year, hopes to have the new 2,680-foot dispensary on a Clayton street corner open in January.