Mexico, plagued by cartel wars, on cusp of legal cannabis 'green rush'

FILE PHOTO: Marijuana plants are pictured at a facility in Tepeji del Rio, Mexico August 26, 2020. ANICANN/Bernardo Zavaleta/Handout via REUTERS

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - For Guillermo Nieto, a Mexican businessman who grew up smoking pot, the cannabis greenhouse on his family's vast farmlands in Guanajuato state is part of a bigger dream. One that involves deep-pocketed pharmaceutical companies.

Nieto and several Mexican businessmen have spent years positioning themselves for a time when the country opens up what would be the world's biggest legal cannabis market in terms of population, where the drug can be lawfully cultivated and sold.