Yeah, Medical Cannabis is legal in México since 2021.
Mexico’s health ministry published rules to regulate the use of medicinal cannabis, a major step in a broader reform to create the world’s largest legal cannabis market in the Latin American country.
The new regulation was signed off by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and will now allow pharmaceutical companies to begin selling and start doing medical research on cannabis products.
The new medicinal rules state companies which wish to carry out research or sell any kind of cannabis products have to obtain permission from the Mexican health regulator, COFEPRIS. In order to sell some products and start doing research (has to be done in strictly controlled, independent laboratories), companies may have to meet several requierements.
“The standard of regulation is very, very high,” said Luisa Conesa, a lawyer and pro-cannabis activist who spearheaded legal challenges that led to decriminalization of medical cannabis.
“(The regulation) is not aimed at patients growing their own cannabis, it is aimed at pharmaceutical companies producing pharmaceutical derivatives of cannabis which are classified as controlled substances that need prescription”
The regulation also sets rules for the sowing, cultivation and harvesting of cannabis for medicinal purposes, which would allow businesses to grow marijuana legally on Mexican soil.
While some cannabis plant imports are permitted for companies looking to create products, exports of Mexican-grown cannabis is currently prohibited.
Foreign weed companies from Canada and the United States have been looking at Mexico with interest. Many had delayed making investment decisions due to policy uncertainty and were waiting for the final regulation to be published.
What does this new regulation consist of?
You can find out the new regulation in here: REGLAMENTO de la Ley General de Salud en Materia de Control Sanitario para la Producción, Investigación y Uso Medicinal de la Cannabis y sus Derivados Farmacológicos.
The purpose of this Regulation is to regulate, control, promote and monitor Cannabis raw material, pharmacological derivatives and medicines, for production, research, manufacturing and medical purposes.
Basically, the actions regulated by this Regulation for Cannabis are those that have the following purposes:
- Primary production for:
a) Supply manufacturing.
b) Generate raw material to carry out the investigations.
c) Produce seed. - Research in health purposes.
- Pharmacological research
- Manufacture of pharmacological derivatives and medicines.
- Medical for the realization of diagnoses, preventive, therapeutic, rehabilitation and palliative care.
What about Recreational Cannabis?
Mexico’s lawmakers are also in the final stages of legalizing recreational use of marijuana, with the bill expected to pass in the next period of Congress.
The legislation marks a major shift in a country bedeviled for years by violence between feuding drug cartels, which have long made millions of dollars growing marijuana illegally and smuggling it into the United States.
The cannabis reform taking place includes the recreational use of marijuana, and will create what would be the world’s biggest national cannabis market in terms of population.
Thanks to this reform, we will be able to see a market in Mexico where companies may:
- Grow and sell marijuana and hemp.
- Make some research.
- Register genetic varieties.
- Import and export cannabis.
In some of the major changes that we are expecting from this reform, we found:
- The creation of the Mexican Institute of Cannabis
- Traceability throughout production.
- Import and export of products.
- Production for sale and consumption.
- The definition of places and spaces where you can smoke.
Hopefully within the next few months, we will see a much more mature market, and a law where recreational cannabis is properly regulated.
I am a Mexican businessman. Food Scientist from Cornell University and an MBA from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).
If you want to know more about the Mexican market, you have a company interested in selling products in México or you have interest in investing in México, please send me an email to: mtellov@e-agro.info