Mexico Supreme Court orders the Secretary of Health and Cofepris to issue, Marijuana regulations within 180 days

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The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ordered the Secretary of Health and Cofepris to issue, within 180 days, a regulation for the use of marijuana for medicinal uses, since the lack of it makes many families be forced to plant their own marijuana plants to extract the extracts for medicinal use, and to grow the illegal market where there is no guarantee of what is acquired due to lack of regulation.

With this, ministers of the Second Chamber endorsed the project of Minister Eduardo Medina Mora who granted an Amparo to Margarita Garfias, mother of the minor Carlos who suffers from epilepsy so that her parents must import medicines made from oil with cannabidiol, extracted from the Marijuana, which is extremely expensive.

In the courtroom, Carlos and several minors who suffer from a disease that requires treatment based on marijuana were present. Prior to the vote, Minister Eduardo Medina Mora informed that his project is to protect the minor Carlos since the non-publication of regulation by the Cofepris violates the rights of minors in this situation.

Therefore, he proposed that the Ministry of Health be obliged to comply with the obligation established in the transitory fourth article of the Decree by which various provisions of the General Health Law and the Criminal Code published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on June 19, 2017, and, consequently, proceed to harmonize the regulations and regulations in the therapeutic use of cannabis and its derivatives.

The guidelines will include, in an enunciative and non-limiting manner: the entire production chain, from the collection and storage of seeds, their cultivation, harvesting, processing, transportation, marketing, and in general all activities aimed at therapeutic consumption, Scientific research and medical practice of cannabis.

In this regard, it is convenient to remember that the regulation refers exclusively to the therapeutic use of cannabis and its derivatives, so other uses are not included.

Margarita Garfias Carlos’s mother indicated that this is a triumph but we will have to wait 180 days for the Secretary of Public Health to regulate, “what we want at the moment is medicine, that is, where to buy it and stop importing it, the measures and regulations will come later. ”

Margarita points out that her son suffers from West syndrome, which is a childhood epileptic encephalopathy, for which treatment it is necessary to resort to oil with cannabidiol, extracted from marijuana.

He points out that the import of oil with cannabidiol, extracted from the marijuana he uses as medicine for his son, costs him between 7 and 12 thousand pesos, so the lack of a regulation since it is allowing an illegal market to grow where there is no security of what is acquired in Mexico and the industries do not have regulations that can mark their legality.

“There are so many good and bad oils and one does not know and this leads to illegality and risk for patients.”

She explained that she has had to resort to planting her own marijuana plant to extract the extracts that Carlos needs, and so many families are in illegality, bordered by the omission of the executive through the secretary of health.

Although a decree was published on June 19, 2017, to reform the General Health Law and the Federal Criminal Code that allow the medical use of marijuana, the respective regulation that would allow the national production of such drugs is not yet published, which would lower their prices and eliminate import costs.

Senate will resume analysis on cannabis legislation

Miguel Ángel Mancera reported that during the next regular session, which begins on September 1, the discussion around cannabis legislation will resume

“The legislation that we want to propose regarding cannabis is of a high spectrum, which obviously covers not only the medicinal, but also the recreational part; 
it is a legislation that now deals with production and, therefore, venturing into our country in what is an economic cycle in which the substances derived from the plant are, ”he explained.

The senator coordinator of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), Miguel Ángel Mancera, reported that during the next regular session, which begins on September 1, the discussion around cannabis legislation will resume.

In an interview, he said that this initiative should be comprehensive and address, not only with regard to recreational and medicinal use, but also the commercialization and production of the plant, as he recalled that to respond to the resolution issued by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) will have to vote this initiative no later than next October.

The legislation that we want to propose regarding cannabis is of a high spectrum, which obviously covers not only the medicinal, but also the playful part; it is a legislation that now deals with production and, therefore, venturing into our country in what is an economic cycle in which the substances derived from the plant are, ”he explained.

Interviewed at the beginning the exercise of the Open Parliament “Thematic Coffee Heading to the regulation of Cannabis”, which aims to know and listen to the opinions that reflect the feeling of society in this regard, said that legislators will have to analyze very well all points.

The act, organized by the United Commissions of Justice, Health, Legislative Studies, Second, and Public Security, aims to be a channel for dialogue with citizens to generate a collective conscience based on the knowledge gathered.

In turn, Senator Kenia López Rabadán, of the National Action Party (PAN), considered that this is an issue that needs to be discussed, without philias or phobias, because she recalled that it is a discussion that takes several legislatures, and has not come to specify anything, at least in about 15 years that began with the subject.

I think it is something that is not going to take a long time to resolve and how good, because certainty is also needed, we need an opening, let’s say understanding, there are many problems of insecurity, many health problems, obviously many problems of lack of knowledge in the matter, ”he said.

At the discussion table, which was held behind closed doors, were subject matter experts and legislators; Surveys are conducted with the participants, whose response is delivered by reading a QR code with their cell phone, explained in a statement.

Source: el sol de mexico, excelsior, notimex

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