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Medical marijuana can now be sold and prescribed

The regulation will allow pharmaceutical companies to start conducting medical research on cannabis-based products

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The General Health Law regulations for the production, research, and medical use of marijuana and its by-products were published in the Federation''s Official Gazette (DOF).

The regulation signed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will allow pharmaceutical companies to begin conducting medical research on cannabis-based products.

According to the regulation, those interested in researching marihuana''s medical use must obtain authorization from the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris).

For cannabis planting permits for research and manufacturing purposes of therapeutic and medical products, they must be processed at Senasica.

For cannabis prescription, health professionals must request authorization from Cofepris and obtain the codes in a barcode. They must also be accredited as professionals in any of the branches indicated in article 240 of the General Health Law.

The professionals can prescribe the products derived from cannabis through a compound list containing various data, including the folio and code expressed in a barcode.


The law establishes the requirements to obtain import permits for raw materials, cannabis medicines, and their pharmacological by-products.

The regulation consists of 80 articles and will be available tomorrow.

The publication of the General Health Law was prepared after the Nations Supreme Court of Justice ordered the Ministry of Health on August 14, 2019, to regulate the medical use of marijuana. The determination was made after granting protection to a person who required a drug derived from the plant to treat their health condition but could not access it because even though the pharmaceutical use of marijuana was already allowed, there were no regulations in this regard.

Meanwhile, Congress is expected to debate this year a law to decriminalize the full use of cannabis.

Traducción: Valentina K. Yanes