Algernon D'Ammassa

Headlight Staff

DEMING – More than half a year after the city of Deming approved a special use permit for a marijuana dispensary downtown, Ultra Health’s storefront at 117 E. Spruce remains empty. Despite an 86 percent increase in sales of medically authorized cannabis last quarter, and projected sales of $83.5 million in New Mexico this year, Deming’s dispensary has yet to open for business.

As far as the New Mexico Department of Health is concerned, it is going to stay that way.

Last September, Deming’s City Council unanimously approved a permit to the medical marijuana dispensary Top Organics, doing business as Ultra Health, which operates dispensaries in Albuquerque, Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Clovis and Hobbs. At the time, Ultra CEO Duke Rodriguez said he expected $600,000 to $1 million in revenue from Deming in the first year.

“We are experiencing difficulty getting our rural locations accepted by the Department of Health,” said Ultra spokeswoman Marissa Novel on Thursday. “They don’t want to license us any more locations due to the plant count.”

State regulations limit a producer to 450 plants. Ultra argues that this limit cannot keep pace with the growth in approved patients for medical cannabis, which surpassed 40,000 at the end of April. Ultra argues the plant limit not only forces New Mexican patients to pay more for prescription cannabis than patients in other states, but that patients in rural areas suffer reduced access.

New Mexico Department of Health spokesman Paul Rhien stated in an email, “Ultra Health consistently asserts that it can’t meet patient needs with the current plant count requirements. On the other hand, this same licensed producer says it can sustain additional locations and meet patient needs. That doesn’t add up.” He further claimed that the producer’s amendment adding the Deming location was rejected six months ago.

“We’ve provided memos of understanding, demonstrating we can stock these locations under the plant count rule, but the DoH is dragging its feet,” said Novel. “We filed our request for Deming on June 8 of last year. Some of our locations, like Alamogordo and Silver City, have been waiting a year. A large majority of the dispensaries approved in New Mexico are in the Albuquerque area, but more than 3000 patients don’t have a provider within their counties.”

Ultra ran into trouble with the Department of Health last year after it put a potted marijuana plant on display at the New Mexico State Fair. The Department claimed the plant was a violation of the company’s production plan and ordered all of Ultra’s dispensaries to shut down for five days in addition to a $100 fine. In April, the First District Court blocked the suspension but let the fine stand.

The lack of a Deming dispensary puts medical marijuana cardholders in Luna County in a legal bind, forcing patients to carry marijuana through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint between Deming and the nearest dispensary in Las Cruces. Under federal law, marijuana remains illegal even though state law allows medical use of marijuana. At the Interstate 10 checkpoint east of Deming, patients risk having their medicine confiscated. In 2015, Deming resident Raymundo Marrufo filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to prevent the Border Patrol from questioning travelers about marijuana where it is legal for medical use. The case was later dismissed in federal court.

“We’ve had a lot of people emailing us and asking on social media when we are going to open this location,” said Novel. “All we can tell them is to contact the Department of Health and make a complaint.”

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-546-2611 (ext. 2608) or dammassa@demingheadlight.com.