Farmers want their community to be Mexico’s first ‘marijuana city’

Carrying marijuana plants and smoking joints, farmers and pro-legalization activists gathered at the state health ministry office in Cuernavaca, Morelos on Monday to apply for a license to grow marijuana. Their ultimate goal: to make Tetecala, located in the west of the state, the first “marijuana city†in the country.

Farmers in the municipality have traditionally produced sugar cane, but believe marijuana could be more profitable for medical, recreational, fabric and clothing use, and for attracting tourism.

An association of farmers and communal owners based in Tetecala delivered a letter to the Minister of Health Marco Antonio Cantú Cuevas and the head of the State Commission for Sanitary Risks (Coprisem) to apply for a cultivation license, but has quickly learned that they were knocking on the wrong doors.

State authorities have stated that licensing is within the purview of federal authorities.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the association, Alejandro Vello Arellano, explained the benefits of Tetecala as a city of marijuana. “We have submitted the license application to plant marijuana legally. What we are looking for is to change the orientation of our city, to attract trade … but also to attract tourism … [and] benefit more than 20,000 people, â€said the sugarcane producer.

“We are looking for the planting permit because that’s what we know how to do… there should be no middlemen. Trade should be done directly with the people who process it, sell it and even export it, â€he said.

“Marijuana is being legalized in many parts of the world and in localities in the United States, which is the main producer … Either we adapt to international rules or we fall behind,” he said. -he adds.

The Supreme Court struck down laws criminalizing the recreational use of marijuana on June 28. She previously declared the cannabis ban unconstitutional in 2018. The use of medical marijuana has been legal since 2017.

The June decision said that in order to legally obtain marijuana, citizens had to apply for a permit from the Federal Health Risks Commission (Cofepris), allowing them to hold 28 grams. He also said that Cofepris permits were needed for growing and harvesting plants.

With reports of El Financiero and Aristegui Noticias