Home brew Jorge Hernandez Tinajero, a veteran pot legalization activist, said Spanish conquistadors brought hemp with them, and indigenous populations added it to their ceremonial and medicinal traditions. Though limited to those four people only, the authorization opens a crack in Mexico's prohibitionist policies. "Marijuana does not go through this process. It's really good. The remedy also comes in dry forms or as pastes. But the head of the government's Cofepris health and drug regulator, Mikel Arriola, doubts the medicinal value of marijuana. But for generations Mexicans have been using "grandma's magic remedy" to combat a wide range of pains, fevers or other complaints. "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. My grandmother used it," she said, holding a plastic bottle filled with the leaves and liquid. 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. "Typically I make alcohol for the grandmother of a friend who has pains in the hands or feet due to arthritis or sciatica," said the man, who insists he gives away the medicine for free.

In parallel, a member of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party has introduced a bill in the Senate that would allow Mexicans to import and consume medical marijuana -- though not grow it on national soil. "Marijuana began to be used in different ways in the 16th century, for rituals guided by shamans, which persist to this day in some villages," said Tinajero, who is part of the Mexican Association of Cannabis Studies. "Infused into alcohol is the traditional use for rheumatism as well as muscular and circulation pains," said Humberto Rocca, a doctor specializing in addictions and herbalism. A debate on whether to legalize marijuana for recreational or medicinal uses in Mexico is in its infant stages, but Mexicans have used cannabis for therapeutic purposes for centuries. In a Mexico City home, a 33-year-old publicist agreed to show AFP reporters his hydroponic system of some 20 marijuana plants growing under intense spotlights. "This is for personal and medical use," he said from his greenhouse, walking barefoot and smoking a joint during the chat. Young people know that their grandmothers or mothers use it," Rocca said. When they're congested, the alcohol is rubbed on the chest and back. "When I'm very tired, I spread it on my legs, feet and body. 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.

The cannabis-infused oil can be kept for months, and many keep a flask hidden in a closet. He taught himself to make various types of therapeutic marijuana, including the traditional alcohol-based recipe, a thick wax concentrate of tetrahydrocannabinol -- the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis -- which is used to treat nausea, and extracts that are used for vaporizations. "For it to have healing effects, it must be presented in a medicine form, like a tablet, an injection or a solution," Arriola told AFP. Mexico: When her legs ache, this Mexican grandmother rubs them with marijuana-infused alcohol. "There's no sale or purchases. The national discussion was launched in November when the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling authorizing four people to grow and smoke marijuana for personal use, opening the door for others to seek similar permits." A spokesman for the attorney general's office said that carrying marijuana-infused alcohol is illegal. For the kids, a piece China PVC injection molding machine of cotton soaked in the liquid is placed in the bellybutton to fight fevers. Some some drink marijuana tea to relieve headaches or help with insomnia while others smoke it to fight nausea or cancer-related pains. But he also said there was no precedent of anyone being arrested for using the home brew