FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2026
Media Contact:
Matt Kennicott
Executive Director & Co-founder
Cannabis Association of New Mexico
nmcannabis.org
NEW MEXICO CANNABIS OPERATORS SEEK EMERGENCY INJUNCTION TO HALT TRACK-AND-TRACE ROLLOUT
Lawsuit asks court to preserve BioTrack until CCD proves its replacement system is ready
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A coalition of licensed New Mexico cannabis businesses, supported by the Cannabis Association of New Mexico, today filed an emergency injunction seeking to halt the Cannabis Control Division’s mandatory rollout of the New Mexico Seed-to-Sale System, or NMS2S.
The complaint and request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction were filed in the Second Judicial District Court. The action asks the court to preserve BioTrack as the state’s system of record until CCD demonstrates, with objective evidence, that NMS2S is fully tested, operational, and capable of being implemented without materially disrupting licensed businesses or the legal cannabis supply chain.
The plaintiffs are not asking the court to stop modernization or select a vendor. They are asking the court to prevent CCD from shutting down functioning compliance infrastructure before its replacement has been proven ready.
CCD’s latest transition bulletin states that BioTrack will be turned off for non-retail licensees after 5 p.m. on August 25. Testing laboratories will be unable to receive samples through August 31, and retailers will be unable to receive new inventory until September 2. BioTrack is then scheduled to be turned off for retailers on September 4.
The practical effect is a state-ordered interruption of testing, transfers, inventory receiving, and other essential functions for at least six days. Existing retail inventory may continue to be sold, but new product will not move normally through the legal supply chain.
Kane Oueis, CEO of Oasis Dispensaries:
“A six-day interruption in testing, transfers and inventory receiving is not a minor inconvenience; it is a government-imposed shutdown of critical business operations. We support modernizing track and trace, but no responsible business would launch essential software this way. The state should keep BioTrack operating, pause the cutover, and prove NMS2S works before putting the entire legal market at risk.”
The filing also identifies unresolved readiness concerns. CCD published license-specific manuals only days before the planned cutover. Training videos, live training dates, frequently asked questions, and dedicated support resources remained incomplete, while additional API functionality for third-party inventory systems is not expected until after launch.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to require proof that critical functions and integrations are complete, real-world workflows have been tested, migration and reconciliation have been rehearsed, users have been trained, and written recovery and rollback plans are in place.
Jason Bowles, attorney for the plaintiffs:
“Our request is narrow: preserve the existing system until CCD demonstrates that NMS2S is ready and can be implemented without materially harming licensed businesses. Once BioTrack is shut off, disruptions to inventory, compliance and cash flow could be immediate and difficult to undo. That is why emergency judicial review is necessary.”
Bowles is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and former law clerk to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, with extensive federal and state trial and appellate experience.
CANM and its members repeatedly asked CCD to pause the rollout and conduct meaningful stakeholder engagement. Operators and software providers were not given a meaningful opportunity to engage with regulators on a new system that will affect their business operations.
Matt Kennicott, Executive Director and Co-founder of CANM:
“Our responsibility is to protect New Mexico’s cannabis industry when government is not getting this right. CCD cannot rush an unfinished system into place and expect private businesses, their employees and their customers to pay for the consequences. We support modernization, but the state must pause, prove the system is ready and stop gambling with the livelihoods of the people it regulates.”
The cutover begins at the start of the fall harvest and wholesale cycle, one of the most financially important periods of the year for New Mexico producers. A failed migration, inventory discrepancy, laboratory delay, or broken transfer could affect every license type and interrupt legal commerce statewide.
Tony Martinez, Chair of the CANM Board of Directors:
“The CANM Board has a responsibility to protect the businesses, employees, and families that depend on New Mexico’s legal cannabis industry. We repeatedly asked CCD to pause, engage operators, and complete the work necessary for a safe transition. Those concerns were ignored, leaving the industry no responsible choice but to seek relief from the court.”
CANM previously asked CCD and the Regulation and Licensing Department to keep BioTrack operating and move implementation to the slower January-through-March period, so the state could complete testing, integrations, training, and stakeholder review. The state declined to pause.
A hearing on emergency relief has not yet been scheduled. Named plaintiffs include Oasis Cannabis Company, The Grow NM, Higher Cultures, Blaze POS, RR Designs, Moth Transport, and Vana. The Cannabis Association of New Mexico is an non-plaintiff witness in the case.
About the Cannabis Association of New Mexico
The Cannabis Association of New Mexico is a statewide trade association representing licensed cannabis businesses and advocating for responsible regulation, stable legal commerce, and a safe, sustainable cannabis industry.
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