14
INTERVIEW
Mexico, a paradise for Cannabis research and development Besides positioning the country as one of the main players in the Cannabis industry around the world, Lorena is an excellent, reliable, and always up-to-date source to clarify any question on marijuana. Interview to Lorena Beltrán, one of the most prominent investigators and activists of Cannabis in Latin America
Lorena Beltrán CannabiSalud CEO She started her career in the Cannabis industry in Denver, Colorado in 2014. By that time, she founded CannabiSalud, the first international congress on medicinal Cannabis for healthcare professionals in Mexico, which has positioned itself as one of the most important educational platforms for both health and business sectors. In 2018 she moved to Mexico City and co-founded Endonatura Labs S.A. de C.V., a company focused on research, advisory, and activities within the legal framework. Lorena continues her education by participating as a speaker in major foreign congresses, such as CannaTech in Israel and Panamá, MjBiz in Las Vegas and Bogotá, ExpoMedeWeed in Medellín, and many more in the United States and Canada. Currently, she leads the movement for the Legalization 4/2020, a coalition of associations and companies, formalized and constituted in the Alianza Latinoamericana de la Cannabis A.C.
| INTERVIEW
Dear Lorena, can you tell us WHAT IS THE LEGAL REGULATION POSTULATED BY THE GOVERNMENT ON THE USE OF CANNABIS IN MEXICO? WHICH ARE THE PERMITTED USES IN THE COUNTRY? Currently, Cannabis regulation in Mexico is addressing the medicinal issue. In 2017, the first law was approved, amending the General Health Law as well as the Federal Penal Code to allow the importation of derivatives of Cannabis intended for medical or therapeutic purposes and the domestic production from the seeding to the final product. Having all this production in Mexico is also possible, but only for the development of medicinal products. This law was submitted, approved, and issued in 2017, but it had to wait for regulation or guidelines for more than three years though. Recently, in January 2021, COFEPRIS and the Ministry of Health issued the regulations for this law, i.e., the rules of the game, which essentially refer to which type of licenses will be granted by COFEPRIS. Also, the basic information related to importation and domestic production can be requested. At this time, the categories of permitted products under this regulation are only two: herbal and pharmaceutical medicines. So, with this regulation, we can expect that universities, private, public institutions, or companies request these licenses to start up the medicinal use industry. There is another discussion that is taking place in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate about a new law that would expand the use of Cannabis that we have permitted until now, which is only medicinal. In this new law draft, it is proposed to liberate the use and production of Cannabis for recreational use. Also, the use of hemp for industrial use was declared and established. This proposal is not yet law but a draft, since it was authorized by the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, but the approval by the Executive power, i.e., the signature of the President is needed in order to publish the law in the Official Federation Journal. Once the law is published, from that day, the government will have 180 days to implement the guidelines for the law. In the meantime, we currently work with the significantly -limited medicinal use law; we believe that the guidelines are even more restrictive than a general law since it does not include food, beverage, and cosmetics, although in a previous discussion
