Cannabis in Mexico

Mexico sits in an unusual position: the Supreme Court has struck down the absolute ban on recreational cannabis, yet there is no legal market in which to buy it. On 28 June 2021 the Court resolved Declaratoria General de Inconstitucionalidad 1/2018, invalidating the parts of the General Health Law that barred the Health Ministry from authorizing personal, recreational use. The ruling was published in the Official Gazette on 15 July 2021. Congress never passed the legalization law the Court had asked for, so the practical route is a COFEPRIS authorization for self-consumption.

Those permits let adults sow, cultivate, harvest, prepare, possess and transport cannabis for their own consumption. According to an academic study using official data, COFEPRIS issued 7,019 such authorizations between April 2019 and March 2024. In a ruling announced in June 2026, the Supreme Court also validated joint authorizations in which several people appear as holders. COFEPRIS stressed on 8 July 2026 that the decisions are not a general legalization and do not permit sale, supply or distribution; each permit protects only its holders.

Without a permit, possession is judged against the General Health Law's table of maximum personal doses, which sets 5 grams of cannabis. Selling cannabis remains a crime, and the shops, delivery services and websites offering THC flower or edibles are not legal.

Medical cannabis was legalized in principle by a 2017 reform, and the implementing regulation was published on 12 January 2021. In practice access is thin. No cannabis medicine had a sanitary registration for pharmacy sale as of 2025, and COFEPRIS granted only six import authorizations for cannabis medicines between 2017 and April 2024, according to Expansión. Patients have relied on court injunctions; the IMSS delivered its first cannabis medicine to a patient on 13 March 2025.

CBD is contested. COFEPRIS approved dozens of CBD foods, supplements and cosmetics in late 2018, then revoked the guidelines behind them in 2019. In February 2025 it warned that CBD, hemp extract and THC may not be used in foods, supplements, cosmetics or beverages and named several unauthorized brands. A few companies hold court-ordered or specific authorizations for low-THC hemp and CBD. This page is general information, not legal advice.