Mexico’s Supreme Court has pushed the boundaries of legal adult-use cannabis a little further. This time, the issue was not cultivation, possession or transport. It was cooking.

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, or SCJN, ruled that authorizations for recreational cannabis self-consumption may also cover the use of cannabis or THC in prepared or semi-prepared foods, as long as those foods are made strictly for the permit holder’s personal use.

The September 10 decision hinges on a distinction that sounds simple but carries real legal weight: making cannabis-infused food for yourself at home is not the same thing as manufacturing a regulated product for sale or distribution.

In other words, Mexico did not just legalize a commercial market for THC brownies, cookies or gummies. What the Court did recognize is that putting cannabis into certain foods can fall within the broader right to personal cannabis use that Mexican courts have been building out for more than a decade.

Cooking With Cannabis Can Count as “Preparation”

The case grew out of an authorization request filed with Mexico’s Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks, better known as Cofepris.

The health regulator ultimately granted permission for activities tied to personal cannabis use, but it imposed several restrictions. One of them barred the permit holder from using cannabis in prepared or semi-prepared foods.

The dispute eventually made its way back to the Supreme Court.

In a 7-2 ruling, the full Court found that adding cannabis or tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, to food intended solely for personal consumption amounts to an ordinary culinary activity. On its own, the Court said, that does not make the food a specially regulated health product.

As a result, the SCJN ordered Cofepris to issue an authorization that also allows for that kind of preparation.

That distinction matters because “preparing” was already among the activities that could be authorized for recreational self-consumption, alongside sowing, cultivating, harvesting, possessing and transporting cannabis. 

The unanswered question was how far that idea of preparation could go.

The Court has now drawn the line a little more clearly: cooking cannabis-infused food for yourself can fall within it.

No, Mexico Did Not Just Legalize Edibles

The ruling comes with very clear limits. Cannabis-infused foods made under this framework cannot be sold, distributed, given away, supplied to other people or offered to the public. The authorization applies only to the personal use of the person who holds it.

The ruling also does not erase existing health regulations for other cannabis-related products.

The Court upheld Cofepris’ restrictions on using cannabis in products subject to specific regulatory controls, including medicines, herbal remedies, medical devices, dietary supplements, cosmetics, vapes and similar products.

So the takeaway is not that anything containing cannabis is now fair game.

The ruling is much narrower: preparing cannabis-infused food at home for strictly personal consumption can be part of legally authorized recreational cannabis use.

Mexico’s Cannabis Rules Are Still Being Built in Court

The decision is the latest chapter in Mexico’s unusually court-driven cannabis policy.

In 2015, the SCJN ruled for the first time that the country’s absolute prohibition on recreational cannabis self-consumption was unconstitutional. After reaffirming that position in subsequent cases, the full Court in June 2021 invalidated, with general effect, provisions that prevented the Health Ministry from authorizing activities related to the recreational self-consumption of cannabis and THC. At the time, the Court made clear that adults could seek authorization for activities including sowing, cultivating, harvesting, preparing, possessing and transporting cannabis.

But it also set a limit that remains firmly in place five years later: those authorizations do not permit commercialization, supply or distribution.

Congress, meanwhile, has still not completed a comprehensive legal framework for adult-use cannabis.

That has left Mexico in a strange middle ground. The constitutional right to personal cannabis use has already been recognized, but the rules governing what that right actually looks like in practice are still being filled in piece by piece.

And for now, one of those pieces extends all the way to the kitchen.

Photo by Margo Amala en Unsplash

Source link

“The state is working really hard to operationalize this program as quickly as possible. People are suffering and they want to address that suffering.”

By Leah Romero, Source NM

New Mexico’s Medical Psilocybin Program recently opened up applications for producers of the psychedelic mushroom, marking a significant step toward the therapeutic program becoming fully operational.

“We’re no longer talking about a piece of legislation and some rulemaking. This is real, this is happening and it’s being operationalized right now,” Santa Fe-based psychedelic attorney Victoria Cvitanovic told Source NM.

The program was created last year with the signing of Senate Bill 219, which created the medical psilocybin program, an advisory board and legalized use of the psychedelic in controlled, therapeutic settings. Qualifying conditions currently include major treatment-resistant depression, post traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders and end-of-life care.

The New Mexico Department of Health Center for Medical Cannabis and Psilocybin began accepting applications last week from potential producers to grow the mushrooms for future program participants.

Cvitanovic told Source that the application is intended to ensure the psilocybin “produced for this program in New Mexico is both safe and medically beneficial for patients, as well as that this doesn’t cause safety issues for people in New Mexico generally.”

According to the permit requirements, applicants must provide a state business license; proof of registration with the New Mexico Secretary of State and the Taxation and Revenue Department; facility safety documents; proof of ownership of the facility or a signed statement from the landowner; proof of compliance with city and county zoning requirements; and verification that psilocybin products will only be produced and tested in New Mexico.

“I think it’s notable that the application balances both the safety of the patients who will be receiving the end product and the safety of people who may live in areas of the state where someone is granted a license to produce psilocybin,” Cvitanovic said. “These applications are open to anyone, but they are fairly extensive because of the high stakes of producing a controlled substance, specifically for very limited medical use.”

She said she believes that most applicants will have an agricultural and entrepreneurial background, but likely only a small number of “highly qualified” applications will meet the requirements.

A DOH spokesperson told Source NM in an email that there is currently no deadline for applications and that they will be reviewed in order of submission.

Cvitanovic said she recommends those considering applying to be a producer confer with a lawyer and accountant and get documentation together to submit the most complete and compliant application as possible. However, they should also consider whether their plans are operational if a permit is granted.

SB219 set a deadline of December 31, 2027 for the psilocybin program to be implemented; however, the state committed to expediting the timeline by a year, aiming to open the program to its first patients by the end of 2026.

“The state is working really hard to operationalize this program as quickly as possible,” Cvitanovic said. “People are suffering and they want to address that suffering.”

She added that the program’s rulemaking process is not complete and more permit applications will open up down the line for testing and for qualified clinicians. A “buildout and inspection period” will also likely follow before treatment begins with patients. She encouraged people interested in participating in the program to speak with their behavioral health providers about becoming certified to facilitate the treatment.

“Programs like this are only as strong as the clinicians and therapists and other people who choose to participate in them. This is hard work, and it is not risk free, but it has the ability to change the lives of thousands of New Mexicans who are suffering,” Cvitanovic said.

This story was first published by Source NM.

Photo courtesy of Alan Rockefeller.

Source link