Finally, Some Cash Back That Counts - New Mexico Cannabis Tax funds basic income program

It’s not often that New Mexico makes national cannabis headlines—and even less often for something that makes you want to pop confetti and do a celebratory cartwheel. But here we are.

Albuquerque has launched a basic income program funded—yes, really—in part by recreational cannabis tax revenue. That means real dollars, collected from legal weed sales, are going directly back to help the people. Not into some black hole of bureaucratic spending. Not to fund more police tanks. But into actual homes. Into families. Into the communities that have felt the impact of cannabis criminalization the longest.

Starting this month, 80 families in two academically struggling districts will receive $750 per month, no strings attached. That’s rent money. Grocery money. Childcare money. Human dignity money.

The program was approved in March with a $4.02 million budget, over $2 million of which comes from cannabis tax revenue. Targeted recipients include Black, Native American, Asian, Pacific Islander, women, and low-income families—all groups disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs and systemic inequities.

But it doesn’t stop at handing out checks. The initiative also includes financial counseling and support services, aiming to close the wealth gap in a more permanent, educated, and empowered way.

Let’s pause on that for a second: cannabis tax money being used to improve public health and financial literacy in under-resourced neighborhoods. This is the type of headline that makes you want to summon Samuel L. Jackson out of a cake with a fistful of confetti yelling, “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” This is better than Capital One cashback, folks.

While other states squabble over zoning ordinances and worry about where to bury tax revenue so nobody can trace it, New Mexico just showed the country how to flip cannabis dollars into real, human-centered progress.

Yes, it’s a pilot program. Yes, it’s only 80 families. But it’s a blueprint—a proof of concept that this industry can and should give back in meaningful, measurable ways.

It’s no secret that cannabis businesses face heavy taxes and regulatory fees. So when consumers ask, “Where does all that money go?”—we finally have a feel-good answer. Right here. To families. To equity. To justice.

Let this be a sign to other cities and states: people are paying attention. We want to see the cannabis industry lifting communities, not just corporations. We want outcomes. We want receipts. And New Mexico just gave us both.