Gisselle Salgado

Master's
Latin American Studies

Research Title : Xebra entre Pachecos: Mexico's Blooming Legal International Cannabis Industry

Once cannabis consumption becomes a formal human right, what comes next for informal cannabis communities? Gisselle entered the field research inquiring after the presence of international companies within the developing Mexican legal cannabis field, yet their time in Mexico City changed the foci of their studies. Through oral histories, interviews, and participatory observation, Salgado instead investigated into the lived realities of informal cannabis communities during this time of legal transition, where marijuana has been decriminalized yet is not yet legal. Collaborations with networks organizing against the marginalization & discrimination of cannabis & cannabis-users informed Salgado as they question how developing regulation attempts to encompass both formal and informal sectors of its cannabis ecologies. The field research illuminated upon various processes within cannabis networks that connect throughout the region, if not internationally, touching on topics such as race, gender, class, and antiprohibition.

It would be remiss to not acknowledge those that gave their time and energy to this investigation, and so Gisselle shares their gratitude to Las Chikas Súper Fumadoras, Terraza Weera, Red Autocultivo, Plantón 420 CDMX, Cannatlax A.C., Movimiento Mexicano de Gestión de Placeres y Riesgos, CECCAN, and many others for their contributions towards a multifaceted cannabis liberation.