NM officials overestimate cannabis plant count

The state Cannabis Control Division has walked back its claim the state had more than 1 million mature plants ready to supply product manufacturers and retail shops ahead of the start of recreational cannabis sales in February.

Some critics, including cannabis growers, had scoffed at the figure, saying it couldn’t be correct, with fewer than a total of 100 licensed producers in New Mexico, and with a limit on the number of plants each is permitted to grow.

The state, for weeks, stood by its estimate. On Tuesday, however, Cannabis Control Division Director Kristen Thomson said New Mexico instead has about 1 million plants in various stages of production, from seed to sale. A contract analyst asked to determine the count of mature plants in late March, in response to a query from The New Mexican, mistakenly assumed the count would include all plants, she said.

Thomson said the state has no way to track a count of mature plants because that is a “data set that doesn’t exit.”

Plant count estimates are based on numbers producers provide to the state’s cannabis tracking system, called BioTrack, which doesn’t keep a record of plant stages of growth.

Asked why her division did not clarify the plant count claim earlier, Thomson said, “I don’t mean to be coy about it — a plant is a plant is a plant as far as the division is concerned.”

The news comes a little over a month after legal retail sales of cannabis began for adults 21 and over. In its first month of recreational sales, the industry has sold nearly $40 million worth of recreational and medical cannabis and products containing cannabis, according to data provided Tuesday by the state’s Regulation and Licensing Department, which oversees the Cannabis Control Division.

Recreational sales made up over 56 percent of sales. Santa Fe had the third-highest volume of sales, at about $3.46 million, behind Albuquerque ($14.86 million) and Las Cruces ($3.62 million).

The industry generated sales in all areas of the state, the data showed.

“Thanks to hard work by the dedicated people working in the industry, supply easily met consumer and patient demand,” Thomson said in a news release. “New Mexicans have a lot to be proud of in the launch of this new industry, which is already adding value to the state’s diverse economy.”