Mexico Loses On Legal Marijuana

The door is open for the growth of black market products 

Mexico City - Deferring the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana in the Senate of the Republic has been a mistake since it brings more problems than health benefits and the opportunity to prop up Mexico as the third country worldwide that would regularize all its uses at the federal level, lamented Lorena Beltrán, president of the Mexican Association of the Cannabis Regenerative Industry.

In an interview for EconomíaToday, the specialist said that postponing the discussion left the door open so that the black market of products continues to grow, in theory with cannabis derivatives.

He warned that online platforms such as Mercado Libre are offered at a high cost and many times it’s not known whether or not they contain THC, which is the psychoactive element, or if it contains pesticides, heavy metals for the use of fertilizers in its cultivation or even the use of vaporizers that were recently announced are harmful to health.

"Now it’s possible to find products in Mercado Libre, but sometimes it’s only olive oil or hemp seed oil that has no cannabinoid, so this situation is confusing people," he said.

Beltrán also considered that the launch of the National Strategy for the Prevention of Addictions, by the federal government, played against the progress of legislation to regulate this substance. The campaign "clashes with the issue of the legalization of cannabis."

Close minded. The specialist, who also directs the International Congress of Medicinal Cannabis for Health Professionals in Mexico 2019 (CannabiSalud), lamented that the head of the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris), José Alonso Novelo Baeza, is not open for dialogue. Above all, it is noteworthy that the regulation of the law that was approved in 2017, which allows the importation and cultivation for medical use and scientific research of marijuana, has not been published.

He recalled that the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ordered Cofepris to publish said regulation before April 2020.

He stressed that, had the opinion advanced in the Senate and assuming it was approved, the deadline would have been extended to 180 days from the publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation.

Therefore, Beltrán reiterated that the head of Cofepris "is closed to the subject and the few statements he gives in this regard are against, as there is no scientific evidence, we will prosecute ignorance and lack of education in the subject (...) obviously we see them with concern, because if it is not regulated there will be more damage in the country than their already is."

On hold. The president of the association said that it is not possible to have a number on the income that the marijuana market can generate once legalized; However, he noted that in Canada, where progress was also made in this regard, annual entries are estimated at 20 billion dollars.

"Taking into account that the population of Mexico is greater, this figure may be higher," he said.

Beltrán said that once it is legalized, it is important that Mexican companies and entrepreneurs who want to enter are the first to benefit, and not foreign industries that have great interest in participating.

Sol Prendido Borderland Beat Source