New Mexico Brings in Colorado Industry Expert As Director of Cannabis Program

New Mexico has a new top dog in the state’s Cannabis Control Division (CCD) to help regulate an adult-use industry that was stood up last year.

Todd Stevens, a cannabis industry insider from Colorado, is taking the reins as the director of the CCD, the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department (RLD) announced Aug. 21.

“[Stevens’] experience as an industry leader made him the ideal candidate to take the lead at the CCD,” RLD Superintendent Linda Trujillo said in a public statement announcing the hire. “I am confident in his ability to lead this team and make New Mexico’s regulated cannabis industry one to rival.”

Stevens joins CCD with nearly nine years of experience working for Native Roots, one of Colorado’s largest vertically integrated medical and adult-use cannabis operators. For the past 2 1/2 years, Stevens has served as Native Roots’ manager of training and professional development, from which he gained extensive knowledge of the regulated cannabis industry operations, including cultivation, production and compliance.

At Native Roots, Stevens executed the design and development of customized and interactive classroom and e-learning solutions (he worked four years as a middle school teacher prior to cannabis), including a comprehensive retail sales training program. He also managed all employee training and recertified more than 200 retail employees through a Colorado certified vendor training program.

Before becoming the manager of training and professional development, Stevens was a district manager for Native Roots, overseeing operations at five retail locations.

“In the past year, New Mexico has established a thriving new industry, licensed more than 2,000 cannabis businesses, and held those businesses to the high standard that comes with an adult-use cannabis market,” Stevens said in the RLD announcement. “I am committed to building on this success while protecting consumer safety and promoting business practices that help this new industry continue to be a transformational economic driver.”

Stevens is the second CCD director with Colorado roots. The division’s first director, Kristen Thomson, was a lobbyist who also spent more than two years as the director of government affairs with The Green Solution, a Colorado-based vertically integrated operator that was acquired by Columbia Care in September 2020.

Thomson resigned as CCD’s director in June 2022, after eight months on the job.

Since New Mexico became the 13th state in the nation to launch adult-use sales on April 1, 2022, licensed retailers have recorded more than $675 million in combined adult-use and medical sales during a 16-month period (through July 2023), according to RLD data. After averaging $39.8 million per month in total sales last year, New Mexico averaged $45.3 million in sales through the first seven months of 2023, representing a 13.6% increase.

As of Aug. 2, 2023, New Mexico cannabis regulators have approved 2,658 licenses, including 396 producers who had an active plant count of 520,105 in July 2023, as well as 695 manufacturers and 1,040 retailers, according to RLD.

These 1,040 dispensaries are projected to report more than $543 million in adult-use and medical cannabis sales this year.