Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Tucumcari city commissioners are acting wisely by preparing to keep up with, and as much as possible, ahead of developments as New Mexico sets up its framework for a new recreational marijuana industry.
It’s going to happen, they say, no matter what personal attitudes are toward cannabis use for fun, so let’s make sure it’s done right.
If it is done and done right, they see Tucumcari as a potential cannabis boom town. The city is located 40 miles from the Texas border, making it convenient for Texas consumers of marijuana products to pick up and enjoy some psychoactive alteration close to home.
The city also has a lot of vacant buildings and unused land that could be developed for any step in the process from growing plants to retail sales.
Tucumcari also has an abundance of water to serve local needs with its own system of wells in the middle of drought-stricken deserts in which major rivers like the Rio Grande, the Pecos and the Canadian are threatened by a seemingly endless “mega-drought.”
City commissioners include three members with current private business careers. They include District 5 Commissioner Todd Duplantis, who owns and operates three restaurants in town; District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya, a land owner and developer; and District 4 Commissioner Christopher Arias, who has demonstrated business management skills at city businesses.
From my observations, they are acting as smart business people do with opportunity in their sites.
The state and the city seem to be running neck-and-neck right now in progress toward a foundation for a legal cannabis industry.
Currently, the state has a license fee structure for every step of the process, from retail business ($35 for a three-year permit) to manufacturer or producer ($2,500 per year) to plant-to-joint integrated cannabis establishment ($7,500 per year).
The state is looking for people to serve on a cannabis policy advisory committee within the New Mexico Cannabis Control Division, which is part of the state’s Regulatory and Licensing Department.
The city commission is likely to appoint its own policy advisory committee to study ways to safely bring recreational cannabis into town. The informally agreed upon plan is two members appointed by commissioners from each district.
District 1 Commissioner Moya proposed, and commissioners seemed to agree, that the city should reconsider zoning to accommodate this new industry.
The state will start issuing licenses in January, and local landowners, city officials and others are already fielding inquiries about potential cannabis-related sites in the city.
The city commission wants to be ready when the state is, if not before, and I think they are off to a good start.
We can hope that marijuana tourists will include some who can see the potential for other lucrative industries in the Tucumcari-Quay County area and help the area move toward a solid industrial base that goes beyond pure pleasure.
We lost gambling with the state’s scuttling of the last racetrack-casino, but this new pleasure industry may be what we need to reawaken opportunity.
Steve Hansen writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: