After a 3-year wait, Mexico publishes its medical cannabis regulations

More than three years after the Mexican Congress approved the medical marijuana, the latter will finally become legal this Wednesday.

President López Obrador In fact, it was published yesterday the various regulations governing the production, research, and use of medical cannabis.

The reform approved by Congress to legalize medical cannabis was initially published in June 2017 but was not immediately enacted. Then-President Enrique Peña Nieto was supposed to sign the bill into law within 180 days.

It was not until July 2020 that a regulatory framework developed by the Mexican Ministry of Health was submitted for public consultation, paving the way for its implementation.

Published in the federal government’s official gazette, the new regulation authorizes the government to oversee the production of cannabis for research and medical purposes. Companies that grow cannabis for medical use and/or use the plant to manufacture medications must be authorized by the health regulatory agency Cofepris.

The regulations allow pharmacies to dispense cannabis-based medications to authorized patients with prescriptions. Pharmacies will be required to maintain a registry of individuals authorized to purchase them.

In addition, the regulatory framework allows for the importation into Mexico of seeds and cannabis derivatives intended for use in medical products and processed cannabis-based medications.

The published regulations apply exclusively to the medical cannabis sector. A bill to legalize recreational use was passed by the Senate in November, but the Chamber of Deputies has not yet debated it or put it to a vote. In December, the The Supreme Court granted an extension to the lower house Congress to debate the legalization of cannabis.

The Mexican Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the laws prohibiting cannabis use were unconstitutional. The Chamber of Deputies will have until the end of its first session in 2021—at the end of April—to legalize cannabis, as ordered by the court.