Seth Oxhandler
Chief Science Officer
High Five Edibles
Santa Fe, NM
New Mexico is following suit of those states that have recreational marijuana with a recent change to the labeling requirements and “branding” for edibles. The wave of legislation is in preparation for New Mexico to make progress toward the goal of adult-use legalization, and we are nearly there. The legislative wave in Santa Fe was followed for us at High 5 by a wave of all new molds that include the state-approved THC emblem on them.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is a long-time advocate for the move to rec. The obvious benefit to our state is the money. One-third of all state proceeds in 2020 came from oil and gas revenue, and the state is looking to benefit from a broader range of diversification, especially considering the environmental initiatives in Congress and the current mood to move away from oil dependency.
But for us to move forward with the new regulations, we had to totally retool. Everything we pour into had to meet stringent new state standards. This was more than a little disappointing since we thought we were forward-focused by already having molds that said “THC.” But New Mexico has followed many other states that require the embossing of an exclamation mark and the state letters. After scouring companies across the country and reviewing MANY, MANY sample submissions, we made the decision to partner with Brian Houle of Bold Maker. Brian is great to work with, super responsive and was key in helping us, thanks to his experience guiding hundreds of other solution-seekers. What we have now are a plethora of compliant, durable resources that are anticipated to have a long lifespan.
With the changes in the system, we foresee the advancement of the industry. How fast we advance normalized manufacturing logistics will probably be predicated on the adoption of recreational cannabis. As manufacturers, we welcome the evolution of the cannabis business ecosystem. We hope the next advancement will be the removal of the 1-to-1 limitation that restricts the use of oil from plant material from being applied to products for anyone but the originator of the material. Currently manufacturers in New Mexico are limited to using material from a dispensary for products specified for that dispensary, but we’re sure that wave is eventually coming our way too.