High times in Chaparral: Green Therapy Dispensary seeing nice yields from legal cannabis

James Perez traded family businesses from West El Paso restaurants to a Chaparral cannabis shop out of necessity, not greed.

With the advent of legal marijuana sales across New Mexico, Perez suggested to his wife, Christina, that they open a dispensary in Chaparral as a way to save patients the time and money it took to commute to dispensaries elsewhere in the state.

"We always had to go to either Las Cruces or Sunland Park to get my medication," Perez recalled, "and my wife was like, 'That's a great idea, opening a dispensary in Chaparral.'"

The Perezes applied for their dispensary license at the end of 2021 and were the first in Chaparral to be approved. They had their eyes set on opening Green Therapy Dispensary in April 2022, when New Mexico's recreational marijuana laws went into effect but were delayed until September over issues with their building.

"You have to be on point with everything," James Perez said. "It was just a way to set us back. I guess their purpose was to get us unmotivated, but we didn't stop."

Perez had originally planned to help open the shop and then return to his restaurant business, but after three months open, Green Therapy generated more revenue than his restaurants made in a year.

Perez closed his restaurants and his wife left her job of 15 years at a law firm, and the two went all in on their cannabis operation.

After over a year in business, James Perez said monthly numbers have increased by around 120%.

"Our sales at the very beginning," he said, "don't compare to the sales we're currently doing here."

Marijuana business successful with border customers

Green Therapy Dispensary in Chaparral is just one example of how the medical and recreational cannabis business has exploded across New Mexico over the last two years. It also shows how nearby Texas provides a steady flow of border customers.

New Mexico has generated more than $915.8 million from recreational and medical cannabis sales, with nearly $50.5 million collected in December 2023 alone, according to the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department's Cannabis Reporting Online Portal.

The six dispensaries now operating in Chaparral have raked in more than $14.1 million.

Sunland Park, another bedroom community to El Paso, leads Texas-New Mexico border towns with more than $57.4 million in medical and recreational cannabis sales across its 22 dispensaries.

"The industry has shown a steady increase in adult use sales since the first sale was conducted in April 2022," said Cannabis Control Division Director Todd Stevens in an email. "We closed out 2023 with the strongest month on record, topping $37 million in adult use (recreational) sales. This would indicate gradual continued growth since legalization, which is what one would expect from a new emerging market."

While that money is fueling growth across New Mexico, James Perez said the influx of money into county and city coffers is also evident in a small, unincorporated town such as Chaparral, where Perez noted there have already been investments in local school districts, as well as arts and recreation.

Cannabis sales face regular sales taxes, as well as a 12% excise tax. Of that, 4% goes to the state, 4% to the county and 4% to the city.

A 12% tax on the $13.2 million generated in Chaparral comes out to nearly $1.6 million — at a 4% breakdown, the state, Dona Ana County and the Chaparral are each receiving almost $63,500.

Texas-New Mexico border cities have seen high numbers over the past year — Clovis has brought in over $26 million, Hobbs has collected more than $44 million and Sunland Park has generated over $53 million — but tourist towns and major cities continue to make up the bulk of New Mexico's sales. Ruidoso has brought in over $20.6 million, Las Cruces has collected more than $67.6 million and Santa Fe has generated around $68.1 million, while Albuquerque brought in $306.6 million.

Growing Pains

Getting the dispensary off the ground proved to be a chore, Perez said. Besides a mountain of state regulations, he had to find a producer and manufacturer to provide the various products offered at Green Therapy.

"Every vendor that we approached, either a grower or a manufacturer, their first question was, 'How many shops do you have?'" James Perez recalled. "When they found out it was only one shop, they said, 'Okay, we'll put you on the waiting list.'"

In the beginning, Green Therapy was able to open with three manufacturers providing a limited menu, but that changed with time, Perez said.

"Little by little, as other vendors started seeing the numbers we were hitting, they started approaching us and offering us other products," he said.

The new business also had to face the dark side of the booming new industry — oversaturation. Chaparral, a community of 32,000 residents, was a dispensary hotspot when Green Therapy opened its doors.

Though the Perezes were the first to get their license in Chaparral, the delay in opening meant that they were the third dispensary to arrive on the scene.

"We didn't know it would get so saturated," James Perez said, noting the six dispensaries already operating in Chaparral and more on the way. "We don't even have that many (regular) stores in Chaparral."

More: Bud to shelf: Journey inside unique cannabis dispensary, grow facility in Sunland Park

Cannabis tourism

While the fight to attract customers to one of six shops in a town poses challenges, Perez said the budding cannabis industry has created a new industry in Chaparral: tourism.

"We've been using different strategies to be able to bring more people to Chaparral," Perez said. "There's never been tourism in Chaparral, like other New Mexico border cities ... Chaparral's never had anything before, there's never been tourism whatsoever."

Now, he's running into people daily from locales well beyond the small town, a bedroom community to El Paso.

"We see a lot of IDs from different states," Perez said. "So that's where I come back to where we have tourism coming to Chaparral. It's been a blessing to Chaparral."

The outlook is promising, he said. Along with its daily operations, Green Therapy is hosting a 420 Music Fest from 1-9 p.m. April 20 at 460 S. County Line Drive.

"Even though there's oversaturation, the more dispensaries open, the more people come, and the more people buy," Perez said. "You can look at the state charts, every month the sales keep going up.

"I think in 2024, we might see a minor peak and then plateau, but it'll be good, if not a little better, for us specifically ... we've projecting ourselves to go up probably 10%."

New Mexico cannabis control officials are forecasting a similar outcome. Federal and Texas prohibitions against the sale of marijuana have provided a sweet spot for now for the Perezes and other Borderland pot pioneers.

"I would expect to see sales stabilize and provide a more consistent data set for local jurisdictions to forecast and budget from the taxes collected," Stevens said. "We will continue to see certain months outperform others due to travel and celebrations ... I think it's important to continue to watch how the federal government chooses to address cannabis. Depending on how they move forward, this will have a large impact on the future of the industry."

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Green Therapy Dispensary owner says legal pot 'blessing to Chaparral'