The Cannabis Association of New Mexico (CANM) is suing its state’s government over a plan to quickly transition away from BioTrack seed-to-sale tracking in favor of a new state-operated system.
New Mexico is the latest state to turn away from BioTrack since the company announced a partnership with former seed-to-sale rival Metrc, but CANM and operators Oasis Cannabis and The Grow NM say the change is coming too quick for the industry to adjust.
“Plaintiffs do not ask the Court to stop the new system. They ask for one narrow thing: that the currently functioning system remain the system of record while the State finishes building, testing, and documenting its replacement,” said the 12-page complaint filed in The Second Judicial District Court in Bernalillo County, New Mexico on Aug. 21. “The State is contractually paid for that exact continuity through at least September 15, 2026 at $23,127.50 per month. The relief sought costs the State nothing it has not already bought.”
A transition away from BioTrack
The New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department announced on Aug. 10 that the agency would transition away from BioTrack ahead of the Sept. 15, 2026 expiration of the state contract with the cannabis tracking company. The system would be replaced with the New Mexico Seed-to-Sale system (NMS2S), which was independently developed.
The department argued that under the new system, operators would no longer have to pay for individual tracking tags or pay a monthly fee for service.
Under the current timeline from the state, BioTrack was shut down non-retailers on Aug. 25 and testing labs were unable to receive samples from that date until Aug. 31.
Retailers will be able to begin accessing NMS2S on Sept. 1. By Sept. 4, BioTrack will be turned off in the state.
“Throughout the transition, our goal is to maintain as much continuity for licensees as possible. Retail sales will continue during the migration period, and we have structured the transition over a short, concentrated period so that staff, technical teams, and support resources can remain focused on the cutover and respond quickly to questions or technical needs as they arise. This approach is intended to minimize disruption to normal business operations while allowing time to carefully validate migrated data and ensure licensees are positioned to begin using NMS2S successfully,” said an Aug. 21 bulletin from the Cannabis Control Division of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department.
The plaintiffs are asking for a court order that would allow operators to continue using BioTrack until Sept. 15, allowing an additional 11 days for testing and training on the new system. They argue the department failed to properly go through the regulatory process before implementing the new system. They also argue that an extension has already been paid for as part of the original procurement process, meaning it would present no additional cost.
The state filed a motion to dismiss on Aug. 24. The court has yet to issue a ruling as of Aug. 28, meaning it only has a few days before Labor Day Weekend to postpone the transition.
Metrc still dominates S2S
BioTrack still maintains contracts with Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, New Hampshire and North Dakota, meaning the company now only serves two states with adult-use markets.
Last fall, New York announced that it would transition from BioTrack to Metrc, which is under contract with 24 other states, including Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia. The company also has contracts with Washington D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.
Utah’s medical market has a contract with Leaf Data Systems, which is owned by Alleaves along with MJ Freeway. Washington’s adult-use market uses a track and trace system developed by the state, while Vermont and Arizona require track and trace but do not have state contracts with a specific third-party provider.
