Reverse Smuggling: Is New Mexico’s weed boom putting cartels in Mexico out of business?

DONA ANA COUNTY, New Mexico (KVIA) -- Many Mexicans are now reversing a longtime trend of marijuana smuggling from Mexico into the U.S.

For many decades, the marijuana business was made moving weed from Mexico into the United States, but with the drug's legalization in several U.S. states, many Mexico residents are now choosing to source their products at a legal dispensary in the U.S. They then take these products back over the border to Mexico, where the drug remains criminalized.

“Its not about getting into trouble or getting into shady places, it is like going to like an apple store, good lightning, you can actually see what you are getting, you can smell it, you can try it,” said Diego, a Juárez resident who sources marijuana products in New Mexico.

Recreational marijuana became legal in New Mexico in April of 2022. Marijuana remains illegal in Mexico. You could spend up to 20 years behind bars if you're caught.

In Texas, possessing up to two ounces of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and up to a $2,000 fine.

Despite the risk for Mexico and Texas residents, marijuana has attracted thousands to New Mexico.

Diego said he knows it's risky, but he doesn’t feel afraid of getting into trouble.

“It is a risky game, but taking chances on the streets it is also a risky game,” he said.

Many Mexicans are hopeful cannabis will be soon de-criminalized in the country so they can freely have marijuana without facing jail time and buy it without supporting cartels or going to the U.S.

According to official statistics, in 2023 alone, New Mexico gathered more than $400 million in cannabis sales. Sunland Park is currently the fourth ranked city in sales in New Mexico.

“This (the trans-national marijuana sales) comes with legalization, we are about open doors for things like this, education and quality, you don’t have to go into another country to buy good quality marijuana, we just have to follow the CCD’s rules and you can get it here,” said Armando Flores, head bud tender at Yerba Viva dispensary in Sunland Park.

The CCD is the Cannabis Control Division, a government office in charge of handing out and regulating cannabis dispensary permits in New Mexico. The CCD requires dispensaries to check customers' ID. They are not required to check where the person lives.

Flores said he understands why people would choose to cross the border to buy marijuana, even with all of the risks involved.

“It is a safer way of knowing what you are getting and from where,” he said.

Diego is optimistic things will change soon in Mexico and then he, like many other Mexicans, would have the option to buy from legal marijuana growers and sellers and avoid the black market.

“I don’t think that Mexico is that long from getting near to the quality and level of us dispensaries, but getting it back to Mexico… I find it like an inside joke,” he said.