Toke & Yoga: Albuquerque dispensary offers cannabis yoga class

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico’s recreational marijuana industry is entering a new era. For the first year, most new businesses were focused on selling cannabis. Now, more and more businesses are offering places for adults to experience it.

At Herban Oasis Apothecary’s studio near Eubank and Menaul, a group gathered to light up and stretch out Friday evening.

“We want to provide a safe place where we can all come together and enjoy it,” said Nia Harris, owner and CEO of Herban Oasis.

Harris said her experience as a pharmacist encouraged her to open a business focused on the healing aspects of marijuana.

“With the opioid epidemic, it made me passionate about patients needing relief when people are dying from opioid overdose,” Harris said. “So we’re just creating the culture around this healing plant.”

Harris said that culture includes puff and paint events, cannabis dance classes, and even joint-rolling tutorials – all things she believes sets Herban Oasis apart from other cannabis businesses.

“I feel like the cannabis industry is getting kind of saturated right now with a lot of dispensaries coming up, so this is something different,” Harris said.

Herban Oasis does have its own dispensary, and Harris says their consumption lounge is opening soon.