It’s early evening in Albuquerque when a line forms outside an indistinct brown building in the southeast part of town. The doors open at 6 p.m. and music comes flooding out into the parking lot. Beyond the threshold, colored lights swirl and bass throbs. A festively dressed woman waves the crowd in. With a big smile, she says, “Check out the $70 ounces at the green table up front!”
Welcome to Albuquerque’s open-air drug market — the well-known secret that has been flying under the radar and avoiding government intrusion for several months.
Various jars full of glittery weed sit on the green table that the barker spoke about. All of the strains are selling at different price points, depending on quality. The $70 ounces are made up of an impressive mid-shelf Trainwreck — comparable to the weed you can find in dispensaries only a short walking distance away.
Black lights and lasers give the room a glowing party vibe while a live DJ plays cranked-up hip hop. The green table is just one of many. Most of the vendors sell bags of weed. Some sell homemade small-batch edibles and THC drinks. A few sell homegrown psilocybin mushrooms. All of the vendors are smiling and calling out prices as visitors browse.
At one table, a kindly group sells wax hits off a rig for $10 a rip. While one of the vendors heats up the rig’s nail, he explains the proper temperature for vaping wax, noting that heating it up too much will burn the terpenes.
At another table, a man sells cookies, cakes and whoopie pies infused with cannabis.
“It’s all made from scratch,” he assures buyers.
He’ll mention how effective they are at getting you high, but his real passion shines through when he describes the almond buttercream frosting.
At another table, a friendly young man displays different varieties of psilocybin mushrooms in glass jars. He’s giving out free THC gummies to people passing by and showing off some comically oversized mushrooms in a bag.
“You have to respect the mushrooms,” he tells one shopper. “These aren’t for partying. They’ll transform your life.”
A bouncer waves to guests as they leave the building. “Stay safe,” he says. “Take care.”
There’s an incongruous air of folksy wholesomeness that is impossible to deny about this place.
The term “open-air illicit drug market” stirs up images of dark alleys and sketchy dealers in overcoats selling fentanyl-laced heroin. But this place feels more like a farmers market or a swap meet. The people there are so friendly and sociable (some of them even make business cards for the event) that it’s easy to forget that they’re breaking the law.
Even though weed is legal in New Mexico, individuals can’t sell it without a state-approved license. For vendors at the illicit drug market — who may be looking to sell only a few ounces here and there — the price of obtaining a microbusiness license and paying for product testing may be too high.
It begs the question why the state doesn’t add a new type of license — something even smaller than the microbusiness license — that would make it easier for small-time illicit dealers to go legit.
In Texas, small food vendors are allowed to sell homemade food at fairs and markets without meeting the same requirements as a restaurant or food truck thanks to the state’s Cottage Food law.
Like cannabis, food is a highly regulated product that can cause serious health problems if mishandled. Under the Cottage Food law, Texans are allowed to sell certain homemade products and are only required to take a food handlers course and place state-issued labels on their wares.
New Mexico state Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-Albuquerque) tells The Paper. that something like the Cottage Food law wouldn’t work for marijuana.
“I don’t think the Texas cottage approach is viable when it comes to cannabis,” she says. “This is a psychoactive substance — and for many people a medication — that should have appropriate regulation to ensure consumer safety.”
While home growers may have the best intentions, there’s no way to tell if their products have been tainted by mold or pesticides if they aren’t subjected to the same testing standards that licensed producers face.
“The benefit of the program, of course, is for consumers to be sure their product is up to state standards, is safe and properly packaged for safety,” state Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) says. “I would highly discourage any illicit activity and think it not only is something we cannot endorse, it undermines the many legitimate businesses who are doing the work to grow their businesses and ensure they are within the rule of law.”
The state’s Cannabis Control Division (CCD) sees it the same way. There’s just no way to safely regulate weed under something like the Cottage Food law.
“While the CCD continuously looks for ways to support small businesses, those engaged in the commercial cannabis industry are held to a regulatory standard for many reasons — including to keep the public safe from potentially harmful, untested products and to keep cannabis away from minors,” the CCD tells The Paper. in a written statement. “The division’s primary goal is to ensure that licensees are following the rules and regulations the state has set forth, and we will continue enforcing those laws so that all cannabis sold in New Mexico is safe for consumers.”
When it comes to barriers to the industry that might keep out extra small operators, Duhigg says those barriers are fairly easy to overcome.
“The illicit market does not exist because folks are not able to afford a micro-license,” she says. “We have the lowest barrier to entry in the country.”
The microbusiness license that already exists comes with an annual license fee of $500, not counting the cost of a space that meets state law.
Romero says small-timers are already welcome in the industry, and lawmakers are willing to hear any issues they face.
“I would encourage those who are interested in doing cottage businesses to get in touch with us about how we can improve the legal landscape prior to making decisions to sell their cannabis illegally,” she says.
Duhigg says that while some of these illicit sellers may have made their products themselves, many are selling out-of-state products.
“The vast majority of the illicit market is out-of-state cannabis being sold here, which is de facto illegal,” she says. “If anything, taking the Texas cottage approach is likely to increase the sale of illegal, out-of-state cannabis because under the cottage approach there would be essentially no regulation or oversight to catch that illegal behavior.”