Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that people authorized to use marijuana recreationally may prepare the drug in foods for their own consumption, finding that the country’s health regulator went too far by prohibiting the practice.

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation approved the ruling in a 7-2 vote on September 10, ordering the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) to issue an authorization allowing the individual at the center of the case to prepare marijuana in “prepared and semi-prepared foods” exclusively for personal use.

The decision does not authorize commercial marijuana edibles. Foods containing marijuana remain prohibited from being sold, distributed, supplied, transferred to another person or otherwise offered to the public.

In its ruling, the court distinguished ordinary food preparation from the manufacturing of products that are subject to specialized health regulations.

The court said prepared and semi-prepared foods can involve ordinary processes such as chopping, mixing, cooking, frying, cooling or freezing. Those activities do not by themselves transform food into a different category of regulated product.

“The preparation of food intended exclusively for personal consumption should not have been prohibited,” the court concluded, finding that such activity amounts to the culinary transformation of food for the authorized person’s own use.

The justices said Mexico’s health regulations generally focus government oversight on food produced for sale or supply to the public rather than meals prepared for personal consumption.

As a result, Cofepris cannot interpret an authorization for recreational marijuana use in a way that prevents an authorized person from incorporating marijuana into food when the resulting product is solely for that person.

The ruling stems from a May 24, 2024 request submitted to Cofepris seeking authorization for recreational marijuana activities including cultivation, harvesting, preparation, possession and transportation. After the agency failed to initially respond, the applicant pursued legal action alleging noncompliance with a previous Supreme Court declaration addressing recreational marijuana.

The case eventually resulted in Cofepris granting an authorization for recreational marijuana use, but the agency placed several restrictions on how marijuana could be prepared. The permit holder challenged those restrictions, leading to the Supreme Court case.

The dispute centered on the court’s 2021 Declaratoria General de Inconstitucionalidad 1/2018, which struck portions of Mexico’s General Health Law that limited certain marijuana activities exclusively to medical and scientific purposes.

Under that decision, until Mexico’s Congress adopts legislation establishing a new framework, Cofepris is required to issue recreational marijuana authorizations to adults consistent with the limits established by the court. Recreational use remains prohibited in front of minors, in public places where others have not consented and while driving or operating dangerous machinery.

In the new case, the court found that Cofepris could continue imposing restrictions involving products subject to separate or heightened health regulations, including medicines, herbal remedies and certain other regulated products. Restrictions involving electronic cigarettes, vaporizers and similar devices also remain in place.

Food, however, was treated differently.

The court said ordinary culinary preparation does not amount to the specialized manufacturing involved in medicines, herbal remedies, medical devices or other products subject to more stringent health controls.

The ruling therefore directs Cofepris to issue a new authorization expressly allowing the applicant to prepare marijuana in prepared and semi-prepared foods exclusively for personal consumption. Commercialization, distribution, supplying the food to others and any other form of transfer remain prohibited.

Justices Yasmín Esquivel Mossa and María Estela Ríos González voted against the decision. Esquivel raised concerns that marijuana-infused foods could inadvertently be consumed by third parties, including minors, while Ríos argued that the majority was improperly expanding the scope of the court’s earlier declaration.

The decision does not establish a legal recreational marijuana retail market in Mexico. Instead, it clarifies the activities that may be included in an individual recreational-use authorization issued under the Supreme Court’s existing framework.