Mexico Medical Marijuana Framework Update 2018

Mexico Brings in Cannabis-Infused Products

How Does Medical Marijuana Work in Mexico? from CannabisNet on Vimeo.

Earlier this year Mexico legalized Medical Cannabis and they had six months to come up with some sort of framework to implement this new policy. Well, that time is up and the new rules are here. So what do we know?

Firstly, while medical cannabis has been legalized, it is primarily focused on CBD related products seeing that any marijuana-related product must contain less than 1% of THC. So to put things in perspective, there is no recreational market (as of yet). Nonetheless, the move for Mexico to embrace cannabis based medicine is huge.

Being a primarily catholic country, the majority of the population don’t see cannabis as some lifesaving plant but rather the shit poor people smoke. If you were to look at the country from afar, you’d see that Mexico is very conservative in regards to many things. However, go down to the street level and cannabis stickers can be seen everywhere.

The “common folk” like cannabis. You can virtually walk anywhere in Mexico and find something to smoke, all you need to do is track down a “viene-viene” and trust him enough that he won’t make off with your money.

Nonetheless, the concept of cannabis consumption is seen as something that the lower class does. This was of course until earlier this year when a case was made for the implementation of Medical Cannabis. I’m specifically talking about Raul Elizalde’s daughter who saw a drastic improvement from her epilepsy after using CBD oils to control her seizures.

Who is Raul Elizalde? He’s the president of HempMeds Mexico, a subsidiary of Medical Marijuana Inc. This of course puts things into perspective in terms of “what type of cannabis products” is allowed in Mexico.

HempMeds distributes almost all over the world and are poised to become a gargantuan cannabis business within the next few years, specifically because they have deals with countries such as Mexico and Brazil.

Now, while I’m ecstatic that Mexico will begin to import cannabis based products, I’m not too enthusiastic about the fact that you can’t grow your own medicine.

Understanding who Raul Elizalde is makes it clear why the current policy is in place. Of course, it was his daughter’s case that swayed lawmakers in favor of passing a Medical Marijuana law, however it is his affiliation with HempMeds that created the framework.

I can almost guarantee that HempMeds Mexico will be sole cannabis business in Mexico that is allowed to distribute to the country. This means that while this is a victory for cannabis enthusiasts around the world, it is also potentially the establishment of the first CBD monopoly in Mexico.

Nonetheless, the fact that cannabis related products are going to be introduced into the country is good news, despite the fact that you can’t get THC, which by itself is also a wonderful cannabinoid with many different medical benefits.

While the country currently doesn’t have any recreational plans in the works, it’s not too far-fetched to see it implemented over the next few years.

One of Mexico’s biggest problems is organized crime and specifically relating to the drug trade. As the United States continues to legalize in each separate state, so will there be an increase in demand. While the U.S is growing some of the finest weed known to humankind, they will eventually run into a “supply issue”.

This is where Mexico can come into play. Tackling their drug trafficking problem by legalizing and implementing recreational cannabis in their laws, will allow them to export legally to the US, dropping the price of cannabis in the States and creating a new industry in Mexico.

After all, they already have the land to do it on as well as a cheap labor force. But for now, we have to make due with CBD related products sponsored by HempMeds.

I hope though, that this move will begin to inspire more people to jump on the cannabis train and to speed up the recreational market. One of Mexico’s highest sources of revenue is tourism. If you were to couple this with Cannabis in places like Cancun, they would be sitting on a goldmine.

So in conclusion, the news is “so-so”. People will be able to start buying CBD oils soon, however they will have to wait for the day they can cultivate their own cannabis. In the meanwhile, the underground market is becoming savvier in their approach and have started cultivating name brand strains.

In Mexico, you can now (illegally) get anything from concentrates, moon rocks, flower, hash and even Thai Sticks if you know where to look. Unfortunately, there is still a thing called politics that keeps all of this illegal for the meantime.

However, mark my words, once the US goes full cannabis…Mexico won’t be too far behind.

Medical Cannabis in Mexico Framework Update 2018