Mexico’s medical marijuana secret

MEXICO CITY – When her legs ache, this Mexican grandmother rubs them with marijuana-infused alcohol. She is well aware the homemade remedy defies the country’s cannabis ban, but her family has used the concoction to treat ailments since she was a child, handing it down the generations.

“I really have a lot of faith in it,” said the slender 53-year-old, a housewife and amateur dancer who spoke to AFP about her cannabis use on condition of strict anonymity.

“When I’m very tired, I spread it on my legs, feet and body. It’s really good. I can go without salt but not without marijuana with alcohol. My grandmother used it,” she said, holding a plastic bottle filled with the leaves and liquid.

In turn, she used the family remedy to care for her three children, and three grandchildren. For the kids, a piece of cotton soaked in the liquid is placed in the bellybutton to fight fevers. When they’re congested, the alcohol is rubbed on the chest and back.

A debate on whether to legalise marijuana for recreational or medicinal uses in Mexico is in its infant stages, but Mexicans have used cannabis for therapeutic purposes for centuries.

The national discussion was launched in November when the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling authorising four people to grow and smoke marijuana for personal use, opening the door for others to seek similar permits.

Weeks earlier, the parents of an eight-year-old girl named Grace, who suffers from a severe form of epilepsy, won a legal battle to import a cannabis-based oil to treat her condition.

But for generations Mexicans have been using “grandma’s magic remedy” to combat a wide range of pains, fevers or other complaints.

The cannabis-infused oil can be kept for months, and many keep a flask hidden in a closet. The remedy also comes in dry forms or as pastes. Some drink marijuana tea to relieve headaches or help with insomnia while others smoke it to fight nausea or cancer-related pains.

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