As licensing continues to expand in New Mexico’s cannabis market, some legacy operators are being squeezed out.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, Sacred Garden is shutting down its dispensaries in New Mexico after being a fixture in the state for 10 years.
Ultra Health is also significantly reducing its footprint and Minerva Canna is shutting down next month.
The businesses blamed their closures on too many licenses creating an oversaturated market in New Mexico.
Zeke Shortes, founder, president and CEO of Sacred Garden, told the publication he feels burned by the industry and state regulators.
“You can do things efficiently and effectively. You can reward or punish people in certain ways, and they didn’t,” he said. “They choose incompetence and meanness over anything else.”
In contrast to the more limited licensing of New Mexico’s medical-only cannabis days, the state has now awarded more than 1,000 licenses as of this month.
