Genetically modified marijuana in Mexico? Cartel henchmen in lab coats producing super cannabis? Not quite. But Mexican marijuana producers are probably becoming more sophisticated in response to changing consumer habits and competition from legal U.S. growers.

Plants seized were cloned, ie not reproduced sexually as in traditional marijuana plantations. Pohotos: AP

MEXICO CITY - An eight-year-old girl who endures 400 daily epileptic seizures will become Mexico's first authorized consumer of medical cannabis after the government granted her an exemption to its marijuana ban.

Grace Elizalde, who lives in the northern industrial hub of Monterrey, has a severe form of epilepsy known as the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome

The health ministry announced in a statement that it would facilitate the paperwork needed to import a cannabis oil that is believed to alleviate epileptic fits.

"We are happy," Raul Elizalde, the girl's father, told AFP by telephone after he met with the head of Cofepris, the health agency that oversees medicine imports. "It's our last hope."

Just eight years old, Graciela could become Mexico's first authorized consumer of medical marijuana to alleviate the hundreds of epileptic seizures that strike her small frame every day.

A judge last month gave her desperate parents permission to get a cannabis oil despite the government's opposition in a country engulfed in a bloody drug war.

Her parents have tried a slew of treatments, including brain surgery, to ease their daughter's pain, but nothing has worked and her condition has worsened.

They now hope that cannabidiol (CBD), a cannabis compound, can finally help her -- if they can get it.

A Mexican judge has granted a couple permission to import a marijuana-derived compound to treat the frequent seizures of their eight-year old daughter, an unprecedented ruling in the Latin American country, the family's attorney told EFE.

"It's a watershed in our country because the marijuana issue in our country has been very complicated. What makes this significant is the departure from a policy of prohibiting all cannabis-related conduct," Fabian Aguinaco said Tuesday.

Martin Santos, a federal judge, on Aug. 17 granted an "amparo" request to the parents of Graciela Elizalde Benavides, a decision that forces authorities to allow them to import a medication containing cannabidiol, a prohibited substance under Mexico's General Health Law.

Steamboat Springs — Dressed in full tactical gear, a squad of Routt County Sheriff's Office deputies quietly headed into the Routt National Forest before sunrise Friday morning to secure and dismantle an illegal pot-growing site authorities had learned about on Buffalo Pass.

The squad of six was joined on the mission by a dozen federal officers.

Carrying 40 to 60 pounds of gear on their backs, they all walked three miles over rugged terrain with the help of a nearly full moon.

"I've been here a long time, and this is the first time I've had to participate in a mission like this," Routt County Undersheriff Ray Birch said.

Drive an hour east of Portland, Oregon, through the stunning Columbia River gorge, and you'll arrive in the idyllic town of Hood River. Tourists come to windsurf and fly kites in the stiff breeze that blows off the river, and to tour the "fruit loop," a circuit of wineries and fruit vendors supplied by the area's abundant orchards.

But there are no tours — at least not yet — that introduce visitors to the region's other signature crop: marijuana.

The moves in Santiago highlight a growing movement toward acceptance of pot in Latin America.

The war on drugs is a war on people, where the majority of casualties are black and brown bodies.

Police in Mexico have arrested a gang of Colombians and Mexicans for growing genetically modified pot in three massive greenhouses covering 20,000sq ft.

A statement issued by federal authorities claim the large-scale operation was taking place in the northern state of Jalisco.

Officers raiding the greenhouses found a total of 7,000 'mother plants' of marijuana that had been genetically modified and cloned.

According to investigators, the Colombians claimed they had been contacted by emails offering them jobs in the Mexico.

Without knowing what they were destined for, they ended up at the site in the municipality of Tlajomulco de Zunia.

The crew, which included 22 Colombians and three Mexicans, were said to have paid in dollars.

Several incidents in the last few weeks have raised additional doubts over how Mexico's soldiers are approaching the so-called "drug war." Not only are there questions over how appropriately the security forces react in confrontations with civilians, but the importance of the military itself in Mexico's democracy may yet come under scrutiny.