Written by Joseph Jaramillo Photography by Marcos Lovato
L et’s go inside and take a glimpse at northern New Mexico’s newest premier cannabis dispensary, the esteemed family of entrepreneurs that put it in to motion, and the highly regarded flowers, concentrates, tinctures, edibles, and pristine patient care provided by New MexiCann.
The dispensary is located in the heart of the desert in Santa Fe, NM, with an expansion site taking place in Taos, which recently opened its doors, and two new sites arriving shortly in Espanola and Las Vegas, respectively
As you drive through the gates of the dispensary’s two acre lot, you can feel the positive 
energy, and sense of peace, surround you. The building has the traditional Santa Fe architecture and design, from the scenery to the furniture, we’ve grown to adore. Once you reach the entrance of the shop, you’re greeted by multiple bud-tenders, with bright smiles, behind the countertops, eager to assist with intriguing strains, championed for their various uses against day-to-day to severe ailments. Browsing through their plentiful and vast selection, you may run across White Widow (an extreme sativa strain, genetically originating from Brazil and India seeds, it’s use is great for stress reduction and depression), Granny Derkle (An Indica strain, born from the NYC Diesel), Grand Daddy Purple and Purple Urkle (similar strains that help with insomnia and pain relief). They also carry Blue Dream, Train Wreck, Critical Plus, Kush Bomb, AK-47, The Northern Lights and plus a plethora more, all proudly grown, right here in New Mexico.
As you go further around the counter, we find some delectable edibles in chocolate raspberry bites, caramel corn, chocolate fudge, brownies, oatmeal raisin cookies, as well as an assortment of hard candies and lollipops.
Finally, we arrive at the counter space containing the wildly popular concentrates. In tow are the RSO Hash Oil, Pressed Kief Hash, Black Temple Hash, and of course the coveted, caviar, a flower wrapped in hash oil and kief.
To get all this medicine on the shelves, it takes a lot of dedication, innumerable sleepless nights, hard work, knowledge and persistence. New Mexico became a medical marijuana state in 2007, under Governor Bill Richardson, when he signed the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act. At the time it was a rare move, because only ten other states prior to 2007, made medicinal cannabis legal. New MexiCann opened its doors in 2010 with a partnership of five family members. Furthermore, I’d like to highlight their roles and how it shaped the development of the dispensary.
Eli Goodman, Director of Manufacturing and Distribution, is highly educated, son of Len Goodman, his insatiable quest for knowledge, mirrors his father’s ambitions. Mr. Goodman, always keeping his patients’ best interests at heart, travels to several locations to attend conventions and seminars, to further explore the “evergrowing” and innovative cannabis culture. Acquiring this bountiful knowledge, he returns to New MexiCann, ready to apply what he’s picked up on his travels, to push this dispensary to New Mexico’s forefront, boasting advanced techniques and maintaining a strict set of testing for flower and concentrate products, ensuring his patients receive nothing but the absolute best. The ever-so-changing regulations create challenges, but Mr. Goodman makes sure everything is consistent; we use an independent lab for testing that ensures everything is safe and effective for the patients. He takes pride from seed to flower to concentrate to beyond, everything is regulated and kept recorded. Mr. Goodman, along with his father, is thinking about the future with new innovations for the environment and their patients.
Len Goodman, Executive Director, Owner of New MexiCann, is a very peaceful soul, very concerned about our environment. Currently, his vision of building two state of the art green houses to cut down on energy costs, is coming to life. I had a conversation with him and he asked; “Do you know what bottom line is?” I replied, “No I don’t, sir.” He then explained to me that everyone thinks, because you’re in the cannabis business they think it’s all profit, but you spend a considerable amount on energy. Whether it’s on efficient green houses and indoor grow areas, you spend money to save the planet and keep it clean and ecofriendly. In the long run, this costly process is for our future, our children, their medical needs, and that’s where I saw where his main equity was, very humble, thinking of his patients and what’s best for them. He went on to tell me when he first started, he personally contacted the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) to tell them what was going on, they replied they knew everything that was happening.
“…everyone thinks, because you’re in the cannabis business they think it’s all profit, but you spend a considerable amount on energy. Whether it’s on efficient green houses and indoor grow areas, you spend money to save the planet and keep it clean and ecofriendly.”
He then told the DEA that he had nothing to hide, everything is done right by state law, and if they ever wanted to take a look at anything, they were welcome with open arms. They could have keys, pass codes, full security access, he just plead they don’t arrive with a swat team and assault rifles, he simply wanted peace and safety, for his patients and his employees. I was so intrigued by this man that he said to me; “I like the way you take notes.” I replied, “I have it all in my head, sir.” Extremely intelligent, he went on to talk about the 60’s and how things were more liberated before the Nixon administration, and the pitfalls of the Reagan era, but that’s a whole different story altogether. Ultimately, Mr. Goodman, Sr. cares about his patients and bringing facilities to different locations to facilitate their needs. Many patients, who can barely afford their medicine, won’t have to spend additional funds on gas or spend time traveling many hours to acquire what they need. From streamlining the purchasing process to going green, it’s all a part of the plan at New Mexicann for a better tomorrow.
Susan Goodman, Administrative and Accounting Director, is Len’s beloved wife and mother of Jennifer. I didn’t get the pleasure of interviewing her for this piece, but rest assured she plays a very important and integral role in the company.
Jennifer Gonzales, Master Gardener, the Garden Goddess. What can I say? The term “garden goddess” says it all. Jennifer is the premier grower in New Mexico. When you walk through her rows of plants, you walk out with the “sticky icky” feel all over your fingertips, indicating the maturity and potential potency of the plant. She has an intimate connection with her special “ladies” as they are commonly referred to, building an unshakable bond with what she’s cultivated. She pointed out that her white widow plants, her blue dream, and northern lights were all having a conversation. In the seedling room, she snapped a thick branch on this beautiful plant. We all paused in slight terror, she broke it, and you could hear it through the entire room. She giggled, and assured us she was their “chiropractor,” and they get stiff like we do, when our backs get stiff, they need to be re-aligned, same principle goes for the rows of “ladies” lined up. These plants love her and you can feel the motion, when they know she’s around. She takes a lot of pride in her work, and knowing that she’s in a male dominated industry, she’s undaunted by any challenge or task. Maintaining a marriage and children, while balancing a full fledging career is a difficulty to anyone, regardless of gender, but she does it seamlessly and encourages educating her children in her craft. Her along with her husband Carlos, shared a story about their daughter Hannah and an incident involving some police officers at her school. Apparently the topic of drugs came to a stir, then talk of cannabis filled the air, the officers, of course enforced their beliefs that marijuana is bad for you. Hannah stood right up and corrected the officers that cannabis is medicine for sick people. The officers, dumfounded, didn’t have a clue how to respond, so they quickly brushed it off to “that’s a topic for another day.” As the day progressed, it became time for Jennifer to pick up Hannah. The principal approached Jennifer and told her what had happened and expressed how proud she was of Hannah for sticking up for herself and what she believes in. The principal thought it was crucial that children know the whole truth about the topic and Hannah displayed just that. In a world where a dispensary gets frowned upon for supplementing genuine sick people with medicine, and cannabis users become typecast as just another hazard is intolerable. We live in a place where cigarettes and alcohol are legal and kill more people than most fast food industries and stray bullets combined. The statistics are startling. All this madness, while Jennifer’s green thumb is a touch of heaven, educating her patients and making sure her family is on the right path.
Carlos Gonzales, Director of Cultivation and Facilities, he specializes in the upkeep of the rooms that hold the plants. His duties vary from late night trips regarding proper ventilation, regulating temperatures, extracting bugs, electrical work and fixing anything else that can tamper with the precious ecosystems which they’ve created. Carlos is also concerned dearly about the environment. He chooses not to use any city water, he opts to recycle and filters from different sources, such as the air conditioners. His mind is set on running at ultimate efficiency, from utilizing the newest innovative lighting systems to energy saving techniques implemented to practicing proper harvest procedures. Anything can go wrong from the starting stages, to the flower stages, to the harvest stages and Carlos has dealt with it all. Plus how can you really try to imitate Mother Nature and continuously nurture flawless crops? It’s quite the feat. He also provides security, when we had our conversation, we were in a very safe, undisclosed area. He informed me of complaints they received because of the smell, random police visits, and just regulating the grounds. Looks like his job working with mother nature will never end, especially with those 2 new greenhouses on the way.
In closing, it’s sad what patients have to go through to get genuine medicine. When all along, our own government has a patent for cannabis under cannabinoids as neuroprotectants, antioxidants for diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer and Huntington disease. They say is has no medicinal value, but how is that possible? They deny a person a treatment that takes away their pain, all the time, and that’s immoral. When there’s pharmacies everywhere, even our grocery stores have them, potentially providing medicine for billions worldwide. However our laws and our lawmakers have other plans. The days that cannabis was depicted as a monster lurking under your bed are fading and people are becoming more familiar with the truth. This family to me should be considered pioneers and not criminals, because they chose this path and believed that it was the right thing to do, to help those that needed a special kind of treatment. Orthodox medicine can’t cover every field and the minds of today are beginning to grasp that. They don’t only grow cannabis at New MexiCann, they’re also building a garden with tomatoes, zucchini, many fruits and different vegetables to give to their patients and the people of the community. When is the last time your pharmacy cared about your health and wellbeing and not just, how much money you have? They’re here for me and they’ll be here for you, when any one you may know comes down with an illness that cannabis will help, think New MexiCann, not New MexiCann’t. This is just the beginning, the rest of the story is still growing.
