An immense marijuana cultivation facility is slated for rural New Mexico, now that the parent company has gotten the green light from the federal government to begin growing cannabis for medical research purposes.
Bright Green Corp. said Monday that it will invest $300 million in a state-of-the-art manufacturing and cultivation facility to be housed in the small town of Grants, about 80 miles west of Albuquerque.
Although the project has been in the works for more than four years, it was recently jump-started after being awarded a memorandum of agreement (MOA) by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The MOA is a permit that almost 30 other private businesses have applied for, including companies in Arizona, California and Pennsylvania.
It’s unclear just how many MOAs the DEA will ultimately issue or when they’ll be granted.
Bright Green’s MOA to cultivate marijuana for research was “executed … earlier this week,” according to a news release.
The news elicited a statement of support from New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham, who said she “couldn’t be more excited” about Bright Green’s marijuana research facility, which is expected to bring 170 construction jobs and 200 research and agricultural jobs to the state.
“With the cooperative spirit of Federal, State, and business we found in New Mexico, we will see New Mexico and Bright Green Corporation become leaders in this emerging field of medical research,” the company’s majority owner, Lynn Stockwell, said in the release.
