Apr. 2—Friday’s first day of legal recreational sales of marijuana and other cannabis products in New Mexico attracted crowds of customers across the region.
Once inside, a few customers at a time were shown varieties of dried marijuana flower with names like “banana” and “orange bud,” as well as edible products, usually hard candies, gummies and chocolates infused with THC, cannabis’ active ingredient.
Customers dealt with employees whose title was usually “cannabis educator” but were informally called “bud tenders.” Customers browsed through catalogues and asked questions that betrayed specific knowledge of varieties and effects, like the difference between “sativa” strains that produce a stimulating “head high” and “indica” strains that produce a relaxing “body high.”
Friday did have its share of opening-day glitches. Employees and managers huddled around cash registers to make sure the intricacies of recording and registering sales were done correctly under state guidelines. All sales on Friday at dispensaries The News visited were cash, because card systems were not up and running yet.
One dispensary, Earl and Tom’s in downtown Clovis, was unable to open Friday morning as planned because of a software error involving the state’s BioTrack software system for tracking cannabis products.
Earl Henson, one of the owners, said the dispensary would open in the afternoon, “after we load our inventory into the system.”
First-day sales overall were meeting expectations of dispensary owners and managers, they said.
By noon, the state had reported more than $475,000 in adult-use sales through BioTrack.
Tea Berrio, manager of the Pecos Valley Production Co.’s Clovis dispensary, said that as of about 10:30 a.m. Friday, “we had taken care of 13 and 20 patients since opening.” She called them patients, she said, because before Friday, Pecos Valley Production was a medical marijuana business. “It’s a big change for us,” she said.
Meanwhile, Pecos Valley customers browsed through catalogues and consulted a “Periodic Table of Cannabis” chart on the wall that organized different marijuana strains from high indica to high sativa content.
Anthony Torrez, owner of the Cowboy Verde dispensary on Mabry Drive, said he was satisfied with his opening morning results, as he made announcements to up to 10 customers at a time lined up inside the dispensary. As many as 20 more waited outside.
Cowboy Verde gave away gift packages that included cards with product listings and a small plastic pipe for smoking marijuana. In the afternoon, Cowboy Verde was scheduled to host a food truck and live music.
In the morning, however, Torrez answered questions about marijuana flower strains with names like “Happy” and “banana bud” and announced to customers in line the edible products that would be available later in the day, like gummies with tropical flavors.
At the Vana dispensary on North Prince Street, the first customer, Christian Fox of Clovis, waited patiently while employees gathered around a cash register to decipher how to record the sale.
Fox said he was buying “some flower and some hard candy,” and said the prices he was paying were “reasonable.”
Some customers waiting in lines mentioned they had come in from Texas, where marijuana and cannabis sale and possession are illegal. Since Curry and Roosevelt counties border Texas, economic forecasters predict cannabis sales are expected to be greater than in other parts of the state.
Most customers seemed to browse a lot and listen to advice before committing to purchase Friday morning. Berrio noted the dispensary’s first duty was to “educate customers as much as possible.”
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