Senator introduces medical marijuana measure

A senator from Mexico's ruling party is introducing a bill that would allow patients easier access to cannabis-based medicines.

The measure is not a wholesale legalization of medical marijuana, but rather seeks to permit the importation of cannabis and its derivatives for medicinal purposes. It would retain a prohibition on national production of the plant.

Sen. Cristina Díaz Salazar's bill would codify in law a recent court ruling that granted an 8-year-old girl's parents permission to import marijuana oil to treat her severe epilepsy.

Díaz Salazar announced the measure Tuesday at a news conference in the Senate building.

It is unrelated to a Supreme Court decision last week permitting a single group of four people to grow, possess and smoke marijuana for recreational purposes under the right to personal freedom.