In the community of Anthony, which straddles the state line, the differences in state laws are stark. “I’m excited about New Mexico being legalized,” said Mayra Villela, 40, who declined to say where she lives. A few stopped before realizing the dispensary was not open yet. Several people driving past the store from Texas slowed down to look on April 2, a day after New Mexico legalized recreational marijuana. In Anthony, N.M., a green sign with a marijuana leaf is walking distance from the state line. on April 1 to buy recreational marijuana on the first day it was legal in New Mexico. People lined up outside a new dispensary in Sunland Park, N.M. Hobbs, in southeast New Mexico just four miles from Texas, made $338,992. Ruidoso, a popular weekend getaway for El Pasoans and other Texans, earned $150,870 in recreational sales, while Carlsbad, known by tourists for its caverns, sold $255,049 worth of recreational cannabis products. Las Cruces, just 40 miles down Interstate 10 from El Paso, made $530,410 in recreational sales. Medical marijuana has been legal in the state since 2007.ĭispensaries in tiny Sunland Park, which is just across the state line from El Paso, sold $259,332 worth of recreational cannabis from April 1-7. New Mexico mandates that one-third of the marijuana supply be set aside for patients in the medical program. About 61% of those sales were classified as “adult use,” or recreational, while the rest were classified as medical sales. New Mexico sold more than $9.9 million worth of marijuana in the first week recreational marijuana was legal, according to the New Mexico Cannabis Control Division. “You look at the line, and you look at the taxes, and you’re like, just legalize it,” he said referring to his home state of Texas, where recreational marijuana is illegal. El Pasoan Damian Marufo, 37, waited more than three hours outside Pecos Valley Production to be among the first to buy legal marijuana. In Sunland Park, N.M., nearly all of those in line on April 1 were from El Paso. Adults 21 and older can buy up to 2 ounces of marijuana or other products, including edibles. Many of those in line to purchase recreational marijuana at dispensaries just over the state line when sales began on April 1 were from Texas. “We are happy to welcome visitors from Texas and around the country to come to our state to enjoy great cannabis products,” said Heather Brewer, spokesperson for New Mexico’s Cannabis Control Division, which licenses and regulates marijuana in the state. Sales soared to almost $10 million at New Mexico dispensaries during the first week of April after the state allowed the sale of recreational marijuana, and businesses near the Texas state line are among those benefiting the most.

Pecos valley production