In Mexico, the Federal Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) deregulated 38 products made from or with cannabis to be sold. This is the first time that marijuana products are allowed to be legally sold in Mexico.

Out of those 38 products, 21 are supplements, nine are cosmetic, six are food and two are raw materials. In order to pass the tests and be able sell those products, they need to contain less than 1 percent of THC (a psychotropic component) in their composition.

"We have received a total of 43 applications for cannabis, of which 38 have 100 percent met guidelines of not exceeding 1 percent THC content," said Julio Sanchez head of the Cofepris. The products will be commercialized, exported or imported by seven different national and foreign companies.

The Mexican companies receiving authorization are CBD Life, CBD Science, Endo Natural Labs and Farmacias Magistrales. Med Mex and Organic Oils of America, are U.S. companies, and Finat Mexico is from Spain.

According to Sanchez, there have not been any requests to allow the selling of products with more than 1 percent of THC. "Upon the intial application (for medicines), you will have to comply with the guidelines strictly, and its use will be controlled," Sanchez said.

Earlier in November, the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice ruled in favor of allowing growing and consuming of marijuana for recreational purposes for any person who asks permission of the federal government. The ruling challenged the constitutionality of the General Health Law, which currently prohibits the production, transport, and consumption of cannabis, thereby opening the door to the legalization of recreational marijuana use.

Morena members, the party of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) who will start governing on Dec. 1, have spoken in favor of the legalization of recreational marijuana production and consumption as a way to downgrade drug-trafficking-based violence in Mexico.

AMLO's officials are looking for a new security strategy to counter the effects of the war on drugs started in Mexico during the government of former right-wing President Felipe Calderon. The militarized war on drugs has left Mexico in a difficult situation of killings, disappearances, torture, rapes and systematic impunity.