Javier Martinez remembers the puzzled faces of a group of constituents as he pitched the legalization of marijuana over pizza dinner in Southeast New Mexico.

“The looks were like, ‘why the hell are you doing this?’” the Democratic state representative from Albuquerque recalled. It was a tough crowd including immigrants from Mexico, where the drug cartels kill thousands and profit billions from illicit marijuana exports.

His argument? If you make it legal on the U.S. side, if you regulate our growers and set clear rules for our retailers, the cartels will get stuck with their illegal crop on the Mexican side.

Earlier this month, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.

While advocates say it's a huge win, it could mean big losses for dispensaries in Colorado.

Since 2014, when recreational marijuana went on sale in the Centennial State, business has boomed for Colorado dispensary owners with more than $10 billion in marijuana sales and billions more reaped in tax revenue.

It has also been an economic boost for those in the tourism industry. People from around the country come to Colorado every year to consume cannabis products.

When Colorado legalized the retail sale of marijuana in 2012, savvy entrepreneurs saw an opportunity beyond setting up shop in population centers like Denver and Boulder. 

They realized if they opened cannabis businesses in small towns along the state’s borders, they could attract customers from Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, where pot remained against the law but was still plenty popular. 

“The border model was a great model,” said Josh Bleem, who lives near Fort Collins but owns CannaCo in Trinidad, one of the first dispensaries people pass as they enter Colorado on Interstate 25 from New Mexico. “We took advantage of that.”

On Monday, New Mexico became the latest state to legalize adult-use cannabis, after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Cannabis Regulation Act. Sales are expected to begin before April 2022.

Following a legalization wave led by New York and Virginia, this approval now puts more than 43 percent of Americans living in legal cannabis jurisdictions, according to The Marijuana Policy Project.

“The successful bill signing today of adult-use cannabis legislation in New Mexico would not have been possible without the leadership of Governor Lujan Grisham and the tireless support of the State Legislature,” said David Culver, vice president of global government relations at Canopy Growth.

It’s official: the leader of New Mexico just signed a cannabis bill into law, adding to the growing ranks of already legal U.S. states.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation Monday legalizing recreational marijuana use within months and kicking off sales next year, making it the seventh state since November to put an end to pot prohibition.

The governor, a Democrat, has supported marijuana reform as a way to create jobs and shore up state revenue.

On Monday, she also touched on concerns about the harm inflicted on racial and ethnic minorities by drug criminalization and tough policing, noting that the new law could free about 100 from prison and expunge criminal records for thousands of residents.

Lea County Sheriff Corey Helton feared the passage of legislation to legalize the use of recreational cannabis in New Mexico could be the first step in decriminalizing other current illegal substances. 

During a special session in late March, the New Mexico Legislature passed The Cannabis Regulation Act or House Bill 2. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she would sign the legislation into law. 

“I think they had to get this marijuana bill passed first and I think it was ramrodded so fast and furious during this session and I don’t understand the reasoning for that," he said.

Cash-strapped governments around the country have found a silver lining in the pandemic-caused loss of tax revenue. Legalized marijuana has provided millions to state and local governments - in some cases, millions more than anticipated.

The ability to raise tax dollars has been a selling point for marijuana legalization from the beginning. Long before the state legislature approved adult-use sales, Illinois politicians hoped marijuana could help the state pay off some of its massive debt. Other states, such as Colorado, have used sales tax dollars to fund schools and public improvement projects and programs.