A wide variety of issues covering the medical and recreational use of marijuana will be discussed and presented in the third Cannafest, a four-day event scheduled Wednesday, April 3 through Saturday, April 6 in Guadalajara.
Organized for the past two years by several non-profits that advocate reform to Mexico’s laws governing marijuana, the 2019 event has garnered a further seal of respectability thanks to the involvement of the Universidad de Guadalajara (UdG)
The event is particularly timely given that the federal government and Mexico’s Congress are looking seriously at the possibility of decriminalizing cannabis. Legislation has previously passed approving the medical use of marijuana, but the regulations governing how this will operate in practice are still under discussion.The first three days will see workshops and conferences held on various themes at UdG campuses within the metropolitan area, while the festival itself, open to the general public, is an all-day affair set for April 6 in the Parque Alcalde (Jesus Garcia and Mariano Barcena). In addition to sponsor stands and information booths, ongoing conferences, workshops and discussions featuring noted guests will take place, with audience participation encouraged.
Among the invitees to Cannafest is Paul Stanford, the activist who pioneered medical marijuana use in the state of Oregon. Other activists expected to attend include Don Wirtshafter Jr., a cannabis entrepreneur and founder of the Hemp museum in Ohio; U.S. plant ecologist and marijuana cultivator Mike Villa; and Leopoldo Rivera, president and founder of the Asociación Mexicana de Estudios sobre Cannabis.
All the invitees are scheduled to be involved in talks at the fair.
The main organizer of the event is 4:20 Guadalajara, an NGO that describes itself as “a citizens’ collective promoting respect toward cannabis consumers” that “provides real information about cannabis, its legalization and medical, industrial and recreational use.”
For further details of Cannafest, see cannafest.mx.