There is broad support in the Mexican Senate and Congress where the measure to legalize cannabis passed by 347-7 in April and subsequently Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto signed a decree officially legalizing medical marijuana. The Mexico Ministry of Health will put forth regulations covering the medicinal use of pharmacological derivatives of cannabis sativa THC.

In addition to cannabis laws as it relates to pot with the psychoactive component THC, there is also the market for the non-psychoactive substance derived mostly from industrial hemp called CBD. There is a big market developing for CBD oils in the United States and around the world and despite the somewhat murky legal picture there are many companies in the US and Europe marketing popular products such as Irie CBD and others.

Latin America has long suffered from the violence and corruption associated with the illegal cannabis business. Many countries have used decriminalization to help reduce the problem. But some countries such as Uruguay have fully legalized pot for recreational use as well as and medicinal use. In the USA many states have legalized cannabis for either recreational use or medical, but controversy remains as state laws are in conflict with very restrictive federal laws. And now with a strong anti-marijuana stance from US Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the Donald Trump administration, the path toward ending marijuana prohibition has taken a huge leap backwards.

In the US even companies that produce only CBD oil products, and not THC laden products are nervous under the current administration. Yet even with that huge investments are filtering in from both the venture capital market as well as Wall Street. There are presently over 100 publicly traded cannabis related companies on the various US and Canadian stock exchanges including at least one pot company trading on the New York Stock Exchange. For people interested in the many CBD products, many people use the CBD oil review site CBDReVu.com, a popular destination for US as well as European consumers.

In the United States’ relaxed cannabis laws in a number of states have significantly helped reduce from countries producing for the black markets, have seemed to help reduce opioid use and have provided substantial tax revenues for many of these states. There has been much caution from the Mexican public, which has been reluctant to liberalize its marijuana pot laws since many of its citizens oppose decriminalization. Part of the reason is likely due to Mexico’s violent history dealing with drug cartels but also the damage to black market supply chain workers could also play some part. Also, the Catholic Church is opposed to legalization and Mexico is a very Catholic country.