Mexico proposes the creation of Cannsalud, a government monopoly on the distribution of marijuana

The Morena party, founded by the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, proposed a law in Congress that includes creating a public company to regulate the sale of marijuana.

In accordance with the initiative to reform the General Health Law and the Federal Criminal Code, published in the Parliamentary Gazette, Mexicans could grow their own marijuana without the need for a license or permit, provided it is for personal consumption.

In addition, the bill provides for the creation of a public company called Cannsalud , which will be authorized exclusively to buy cannabis and its derivatives from individuals who have permits.

“This is a first step towards the opening of a new lawful market, and a public company is proposed as a mandatory intermediary, in order to identify and contain the risks inherent in the establishment of a new market, when there are already international commercial interests seeking to maximize their profits over the protection of people’s health,” says legislator Delgado in the bill.

The public company would seek to regulate the sale of the narcotic, concentrating the monopoly of cannabis, and then grant it to authorized distributors so that the State can regulate consumption.

“The fundamental purposes of the creation of this company include facilitating the sanitary verification of the products”, in addition to systematizing all the information on the production and distribution chain, with the aim of “preventing large commercial interests from being in a position to overwhelm or capture the regulator. ”

This company would be operated by the federal government and will have technical, operational and management autonomy.

The initiative would allow legalizing the use of marijuana, one of the main claims of academics and some sectors of civil society to try to contain the violence of drug cartels in Mexico, which to date adds more than 300,000 murders since the “war on drug trafficking”, decreed was signed 2006.