New Mexico medical marijuana businesses see big spike in patient pool

New Mexico saw a 77% increase in registered medical marijuana patients in the past year, giving the state’s dispensaries a significantly larger pool from which to attract customers.

New Mexico’s registered patients totaled 45,347 as of Nov. 30, a net gain of 19,650 over the previous year, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News.

Here’s what you need to know:

• This is New Mexico’s largest increase in patients over a one-year period since the program launched in 2007.
• The program is on pace to hit the 50,000-patient mark by the end of the year.
• MMJ numbers increased even though the health department disenrolled thousands of patients, citing “legacy data” that needed to be removed from the state database.
• The state’s medical cannabis board voted in April to expand its conditions list beyond the 20 acceptable ailments, but the plan failed to come to fruition.