Congressmen in Mexico recently put their approval on a bill to legalize marijuana. However, Mexico is a country that is in the grip of a deadly drug so this proposal is divisive. This is a great achievement for the country as it could emerge as the largest marijuana market in the world. This leaves the United States in the middle of two cannabis-selling neighbors.
The 316-to-129 vote in Mexico’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, came more than two years ago. This was after the Mexican Supreme Court passed a ruling that the country’s ban on recreational marijuana was unconstitutional. It is more than three years after the country made medicinal marijuana legal.
Details On The Legalization Of Marijuana In Mexico
The chamber approved the bill in general terms Wednesday evening. This was before moving on to a lengthy discussion of possible revisions that each lawmaker introduces. In its final form, though, the measure expects to sail through the Senate. Then it will have to reach President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who shows his support for the legalization of marijuana in Mexico.
The measure, as of Wednesday night, would allow adults to smoke marijuana. Also, with a permit, they can grow a small number of cannabis plants at home. It would also grant licenses for producers — from small farmers to commercial growers — to cultivate and sell the crop.
“Today we are in a historic moment,” said Simey Olvera, a lawmaker with the governing Morena party. “With this, the false belief that cannabis is part of Mexico’s serious public health problems is left behind.”
If this falls through, Mexico would join Canada and Uruguay in a small but growing list of countries that are legalizing marijuana in the Americas. This will add further momentum to the legalization movement in the region. In the United States, Democrats in the Senate have also promised to scrap federal prohibition of the drug this year.
For “Mexico, given its size and its worldwide reputation for being damaged by the drug war, to take this step is enormously significant,” said John Walsh, director of drug policy for the Washington Office on Latin America, a U.S. advocacy group. “North America is heading toward legalization.”
Shortcomings Of The Legalization Of Marijuana In Mexico
Critics say it is unlikely to make a serious dent in Mexico’s soaring rates of cartel-fueled violence. They argue that it is unwelcome in a country where nearly two-thirds of people oppose legalizing marijuana. This is according to recent polling.
“It’s a political fad,” said Damián Zepeda Vidales, a senator with the opposition National Action Party. He is one of the bill’s most vocal detractors. “It’s a matter for politicians, for an elite that’s now empowered in Congress and in government that wants to impose a way of life on society.”
Security experts agree that the law’s practical impact on violence will likely be minimal. There are 15 American states who are legalizing marijuana. Experts argue that the crop has become a relatively small part of the Mexican drug trafficking business. This is with cartels focusing on more profitable products like fentanyl and methamphetamines.
“We shouldn’t overestimate the power of this bill,” said Falko Ernst, senior Mexico analyst for the International Crisis Group, a global research organization. The bill will not “substantially change the dynamics and drivers of lethal conflict in Mexico.”
The Legalization Of Marijuana In Mexico Could Be A Political Facade
Proponents of legalizing marijuana contend that the bill has a lot of limits in scope. Even if it represents a symbolic breakthrough in the push to end a drug war that has cost an estimated 150,000 lives. This is according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Legalization “is an important step toward building peace in a country like ours, where for at least a decade or more, we’ve been immersed in an absurd war,” said Lucía Riojas Martínez. Lucia is a Mexican congresswoman who made headlines in 2019. She gave a rolled joint to the country’s interior minister, Olga Sánchez Cordero, after delivering a speech in Congress.
But This Bill Falls Short Of Achieving That,” She Added
It is also unclear how much the law will benefit Mexico’s poor farmers. They have grown marijuana for decades and often end up in the middle of conflicts between warring drug trafficking groups.
The bill mandates that small farmers and Indigenous people should have priority in licensing. However, it also stipulates only that these vulnerable groups can have more than one license.
But many entrepreneurs, at least, are seeing green. With more than 120 million people, Mexico would represent the largest marijuana market in the world by population. The crop could become big business in Mexico, a potential financial lift for an economy badly battered by the coronavirus crisis.
“It’s an excellent economic, natural, ethical, and moral solution for a country in need,” said Juan Sánchez Mejorada, chief executive of Ceres Soluciones, a medicinal cannabis company.
Views Of Pro-marijuana Activists On The Legalization Of Marijuana In Mexico
Dressed as a giant cannabis leaf, Ms. Medina was attending a protest last year. The protest began at a small marijuana plantation outside the Senate offices in Mexico City. It is where locals now regularly come to smoke pot while the police turn a blind eye.
Some activists fear that the law will overly favor large corporations. They could obtain what the bill terms an “integral license,”, It gives them access to the entire marijuana supply chain, from seed to sale. This then leaves small-scale producers and vendors locked out of the lucrative market.
The bill in Mexico would allow individual users to carry up to 28 grams of marijuana and grow six cannabis plants at home. Adults over 18 can purchase marijuana at legal business centers. Groups with licenses can also grow marijuana on a larger scale. Medical marijuana, which Mexico legalized in 2017, would be regulated separately by the health ministry. The Ministry made rules in January covering the growing and research of medicinal cannabis.
Still, for many proponents in Mexico, approving the bill is a notable step in the long journey toward full legalization. Many believe that they still have a long way to go before the legalization of marijuana in Mexico comes to full existence.
