If Mexico legalizes cannabis next month, the decision will make it the most-populous country to legalize the plant. Mexico is looking to set regulations that will legalize both hemp and marijuana nationwide. They are not looking to deal with defining legal limits for THC or having patches of legalization like the U.S. is currently using.
Currently, hemp cultivation is not legal south of the border. This change has the potential to open more opportunities in the industry, allowing Mexico to import and export from other countries where cannabis is legal.
This legislation is also expected to have large effects on the U.S. cannabis market.
According to longtime cannabis attorney, Lisa Pittman, “The other countries that have already legalized cannabis – Canada and Uruguay – have populations much smaller than Mexico, and Mexico already has quite a history of using cannabis and shipping cannabis across our borders.”
“The United States market is going to be further hindered as it is surrounded on both sides by countries that can produce legal cannabis on a large-scale basis and can export that cannabis to other countries that have also legalized it, too,” Pittman said.
“We’re getting calls from retailers, wholesalers, distributors and so on that are interested and know that there’s going to be a big demand in Mexico,” said Christian Patiño Webb, executive vice president of Day One, a Los Angeles company that makes CBD-infused sparkling water.
“So this bill will basically legalize all uses (and) grants or classifies the types of licenses that will be available, which are five,” said Luis Armendáriz, an attorney in Chihuahua, Mexico, who is affiliated with Denver’s Hoban Law Group.
“One for import and export of products; a second for transformation; the third for sale or commercialization; the fourth for cultivation and the last one for research.”
