New Mexico’s medical cannabis industry continues its rapid growth as more patients enroll in the program, reports by the Albuquerque Journal.

The program gained more than 8,000 patients since January 1, 2017, totaling to 40,432 by the end of April. Enrollment has increased 84 percent since March 2016.

The state currently has 56 dispensaries as of April. There were 36 dispensaries open in January of 2016.

“We are probably the single fastest growing industry in New Mexico,” said Duke Rodriguez, president and CEO of Ultra Health LLC, the state’s largest cannabis distributor. “This is the one industry that has been a juggernaut of growth.”

Medical cannabis sales for the first three months of the year topped $19 million, which is a 91 percent increase over the same time period in 2016.

The Albuquerque Journal also reported in September of last year the state was on the verge of an “economic death spiral” if it keeps conducting business as usual. The economic situation was brought up at a Jobs Council meeting. Mark Laotian, the council’s lead program consultant, conducted an analysis on the state’s situation based on data from the state, local and federal levels.

“Not only will we be unable to reach full employment for our current population, but we won’t have jobs for the additional population we’re projected to have (over the decade),” said Lautman. “There’s going to be even more attrition if that happens, and that could be a big problem.”