A four month Larry Barker Investigation
From the day recreational marijuana was legalized, someone was out there trying to cheat the system. That’s why lawmakers imposed stringent safeguards to regulate all aspects of the new industry including licensing, lab testing, labeling requirements, and a ban on sales to children. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. But the reality today is a nightmare that has state officials scrambling. If you want to buy marijuana today, you don’t have to go to a licensed dispensary. Visit any number of gas stations or convenience stores across New Mexico and you’ll find racks of candy, chips, cokes and cannabis.
“It’s illegal. It’s illicit. Whatever words you want to use, it’s black market cannabis,” Duke Rodriguez says. Rodriguez is CEO for Ultra Health, the largest licensed cannabis producer in the state.
They get away with it by disguising bootleg marijuana in packaging that falsely identifies the contents as hemp. Cannabis and hemp look alike, but chemically they are vastly different. The only way to tell the difference is by having the product tested in a laboratory. Because hemp is not psycho active and won’t get you high, it can be sold anywhere including gas stations.
A KRQE News 13 investigation finds New Mexico being flooded with millions of dollars worth of illicit weed masquerading as hemp. For example KRQE News 13 purchased a pre-rolled hemp cigarette called “Permanent Marker” at the Quick Track convenience store on Wyoming. We took it to Rio Grande Analytics for lab testing. Lab Director Barry Dungan says test results show the product is “not” properly labeled. “That is 25% THC. It’s labeled as hemp. And that is absolutely not a hemp product. That is a marijuana product,” Dungan says. If a child gets his hand on that product, “they will absolutely get high from that,” Dungan said.
The Grass Station’s Smoke Shop sells a hemp labeled product called Cheech and Chong’s 8-Gelato Flower. Rio Grande Analytics’ lab tests show the product contains 26.5% THC which is potent, high grade marijuana in disguise. “That is pure and simple cannabis. Disregard anything that’s printed on the package. It’s not accurate. They know it. It’s being sold as hemp to skirt the entire system, avoid any kind of supervision, any kind of regulation,” Ultra Health’s Duke Rodriguez says.
Allsup’s on Indian School sells a hemp labeled e-cigarette (vape) called ‘SkyWalker’. Lab tests show the product contains not only marijuana but also a substantial amount of a chemical called HHC (hexahydrocannabinol). HHC is a Schedule I substance under the DEA’s Controlled Substances Act. “I am shocked to find that there. That is a Schedule I substance and the fact that it’s sold in gas stations or can be bought in stores online is a huge red flag,” Rio Grande Analytics Lab Director Barry Dungan says.
One industry expert estimates New Mexico’s clandestine marijuana market exceeds $200,000,000 a year which includes unlicensed marijuana imposters lining the shelves of New Mexico gas stations and convenience stores.
A 2022 National Institute of Justice study analyzed fifty-three random samples labeled hemp. Forty-nine of those products tested as mislabeled cannabis. In New Mexico lab tests on 18 hemp labeled products found similar results. The testing was conducted by Rio Grande Analytics. “Of the 18 samples that we tested, only two of those turned out to be hemp products. It’s alarming that all the others are just unregulated marijuana,” Lab Director Barry Dungan said.
“You can call a product whatever you want, but the devil’s in the details. The details say this is marijuana,” says Dan Pabon, Chief Regulatory Officer for Schwazze, a licensed cannabis business with outlets in New Mexico and Colorado. “This product is on street corners, gas stations, convenience stores available everywhere labeled as hemp. It’s actually marijuana. It’s untested. It’s unregulated. It’s unlicensed. This stuff will get you as high, if not higher, than marijuana products that are sold in a very strict, regulated, tested environment,” Dan Pabon says.
“These products are cannabis. They’re being offered for sale in an unlawful manner and they are illegal,” Ultra Health’s Duke Rodriguez said. “The law is very specific on this matter. It’s just that some individuals decided to be rogue (and) use packaging that implied something that wasn’t true, and then straight up sold cannabis without a license,” Rodriguez says.
Hemp products in New Mexico are regulated under the Hemp Manufacturing Act by the state Environment Department. Cannabis and Hemp Bureau Chief Johnathan Gerhardt says the regulatory intent of the Act is public safety. “We also protect consumers by requiring our manufacturers to properly label products so that people are aware of what they are consuming,” Gerhardt said. However, the Hemp Bureau Chief admits he has never found marijuana improperly labeled as hemp.
For example, a hemp labeled pre-rolled cigarette called Cheetch P*** is widely available at gas station convenience stores throughout Albuquerque. Lab tests by Rio Grande Analytics show Cheetah P*** contains illicit marijuana masquerading as hemp. “One notable thing there is it also failed for multiple pesticides, which is alarming,” Lab Director Barry Dungan says. “This is a marijuana product that has failed the state required tests (for pesticides) so it’s not fit for human consumption. They’re being sold in gas stations to anybody that wants them,” Dungan says.
KRQE News 13 purchased a hemp labeled pre-rolled cigarette called Gorilla Glu at Big Moe’s Market on Albuquerque’s Westside. Lab tests show Gorilla Glu is not hemp but rather bootleg marijuana jammed with banned pesticides. “Definitely nothing with pesticides at those levels should be ingested by anyone,” Barry Dungan said.
After reviewing the laboratory analysis of Cheetah P*** and Gorilla Glu, Hemp Bureau Chief Johnathan Gerhardt agreed the faux hemp products are not safe. However, he says the Environment Department is powerless to do anything about it. Even though the Hemp Manufacturing Act is designed to protect consumers from unsafe products, Gerhardt says the Hemp Bureau lacks jurisdiction over Cheetah P***, Gorilla Glu and other marijuana products disguised as hemp. He claims, because the products were manufactured out of state, the Hemp Manufacturing Act only regulates hemp products produced in New Mexico. We asked if the Hemp Bureau has the ability to protect the public from unsafe products sold in convenience stores? Jonathon Gerhardt responded, “Not at this time.”
Gorilla Glu, Cheetah P*** and Permanent Marker are fake hemp labeled products produced by an Albuquerque business called Nuevo Cannabis. The company lists its address at a Northeast Albuquerque residence. General Partners Michael Dingess and Alfred Kalsin did not return repeated calls for comment. Following our inquiry, the Nuevo Cannabis website was taken down. Big Moe’s Market, which sells Nuevo Cannabis products, did not return a phone call for comment. A representative for Quick Track convenience stores, which also carries Nuevo Cannabis products on its shelves, told KRQE News 13 he believes the hemp labeled products are legal.
In New Mexico, it is a felony to manufacture, produce or sell cannabis without a license. However, don’t look for New Mexico’s Cannabis Control Division to start confiscating marijuana disguised as hemp in convenience stores. In a prepared statement, the Cannabis Control Division said it has “limited enforcement over unlicensed businesses” that peddle marijuana. “If a complaint alleges a non-CCD licensed location (is) selling hemp products the contain(s) cannabis-derived delta-9 THC, the CCD is limited to providing this information to our law enforcement and New Mexico Environment Department colleagues,” New Mexico Cannabis Control officials wrote.
New Mexico is one of only a handful of states across the country that allow the sale of so called hemp products. That may change. A bill to ban the sale of hemp in New Mexico is making its way through the Roundhouse.
“We’re making what was once a highly regulated, controlled industry into this open, wild, wild West experience,” Ultra Health’s Duke Rodriguez says. “The state doesn’t do anything to regulate these hemp products. They’re untested. They’re sold illegally. And there’s nothing being done about them.” Dan Pabon said.
While state regulators simply look the other way, New Mexico’s Attorney General has launched a criminal investigation. “We have agents who are currently beginning the investigation of various locations and sales of these (hemp labeled) products,” New Mexico Department of Justice General Counsel Julie Meade said. “We’re investigating the false advertising and or the misrepresentations in the sale of these products,” Meade said.