New Mexico Market Summary: January 2026
Let’s get one thing straight: despite headlines, January wasn’t a crash—it was a calibrated exhale. New Mexico's cannabis market posted just a $20,000 dip in total reported earnings year-over-year. The real news broke at a recent CANM meeting, and it’s heavier than any sales report.
BioTrack Out, METRC In?
Duke Rodriguez was in attendance, and announced that allegedly, an un-named source informed him that BioTrack is out as the state’s tracking system, and METRC is being pushed as its replacement under an “emergency” public health justification. If true, this unplanned conversion will wreak havoc on reporting, inventory tracking, and compliance—just like it did in New York. Worse, the new vendor apparently has no track record in the industy, raising fears of a political or rushed decision with long-term consequences.
HB294 – The Packaging Ban
House Bill 294, sponsored by Doreen Gallegos and Liz Stefanek Snively, proposes forcing all infused, edible, and concentrate products into black-and-white, unbranded packaging with plain fonts—no color, no logos, no appeal. It also expands the legal definition of “cartoon” and bans artificial coloring altogether. The bill claims to protect minors, but industry groups say it cripples brand identity and harms small producers who rely on packaging to stand out.
Oasis and Schwazze: Gemini Twins
Oasis came out of the gate swinging with $3.89M in total revenue, leveraging new builds in Albuquerque and Gallup to maximum effect. They’re not just selling—they’re stacking, with a balance of adult-use and medical that still turns heads. Schwazze followed like a well-oiled machine, pulling in $2.8M, proving that tight operations and scale still punch hard in a saturated field. Behind them, Chadcor and PurLife cleared the $2M line, while a thick middle of brands—Urban Wellness, Cookies, Verdes, P37—all fought for relevance and margin in a fiercely competitive retail warzone.
Plant Numbers
On the cultivation side, the state logged 611,000 active plants across 627 grows. But here’s the kicker—10 operators control nearly 40% of that canopy. Blue Whale Enterprises leads the pack with 40,881 plants, followed by Desert Peaks Farms and Pecos Valley Production, who keep the tables full and the trimmers busy. The rest? They’re grinding it out in the shadows of giants, praying for better margins and shorter dry times. The plant count story is one of consolidation—fewer people growing more, while the rest try to hang on.
Regional Earnings
The Central region still dominates, with $829.9M in lifetime sales, 39.17% of market share, and 431 storefronts packed into just 20 cities. But even they saw a $1M+ month-over-month decline, a sign that consumer fatigue or over-saturation is hitting even the most fortified zones. Southern and Eastern NM held firm with 22% and 20% shares respectively, each taking smaller hits. Northern and Western regions remain bit players—romantic, yes, but not revenue powerhouses.
Year Of The Waterbug
There’s a pattern here, and it keeps repeating every time a “decision” drops that reshapes the business: the people making the calls aren’t the license holders. When you try to apply logic—do things clean, compliant, and by the book—you’re usually rewarded with disappointment. Step back far enough and the feeling shifts from frustration to regret: the signs were there, and the window to take advantage closed faster than anyone wanted to admit.
The uncomfortable truth is that BioTrack isn’t working. As a compliance system, its security is paper-thin. Digital records can be faked with minimal effort, and enforcement relies more on trust than verification. METRC, for all its pain, at least raises the barrier. It forces physical tagging, tighter chain-of-custody, and more friction. But let’s not pretend it’s neutral—the only operators who can easily absorb tagging costs at scale are MSOs. Everyone else feels it immediately in labor, cash flow, and margin.
The same tune is playing at the city level. Albuquerque business licenses were effectively auto-approved with no pre-inspections—a blessing and a curse. It let operators move fast, but it also opened the door for everyone else to move just as fast, regardless of intent or readiness. Some built real businesses. Others just grabbed space and hoped the math would work later.
The CCD and the City dont have personel, and truth be told, they dont need them. They have a database of records, timestamps and licenses, a digital state. That’s where we are now. 2026 is going to be rough for anyone weak on data, reporting, and compliance. Not because the rules are suddenly new, but because the tolerance for loose systems is disappearing.
