Selective legalization: How medical cannabis regulation constitutes markets in Brazil and Colombia

Medical cannabis reforms do not simply replace prohibition with regulation. They redraw the boundary of legality by recognizing some uses, products, and activities while others remain prohibited or are recognized within narrower legal limits. We call this process selective legalization and treat the legal boundary established by each reform as a contingent institutional outcome. Drawing on document analysis and a structured, focused comparison of Brazil and Colombia from 2014 to August 1, 2026, we examine what reforms legally recognize, the legal possibilities this recognition opens for economic activity, and the institutional routes through which recognized activities can be undertaken. Colombia authorized cultivation, processing, and foreign trade relatively early, a sequence associated with internationally oriented production. Brazil expanded individual-import and pharmacy-product routes while domestic cultivation lacked a general administrative authorization route in force at the study cutoff. These administrative routes relied on foreign products or cannabis-derived inputs and coexisted with judicially protected domestic production. The comparison shows that reforms sharing a medical purpose established different scopes of legal recognition. Institutional routes and unequal capacities shape the conditions under which these legal possibilities can be used. Effective participation and market configurations cannot be inferred from legal recognition alone.