Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
.

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Mexico's Supreme Court Decriminalizes Recreational Marijuana Use

"El Choclo" for Borderland Beat


Mexico’s supreme court has struck down laws prohibiting the use of recreational marijuana, moving the country toward cannabis legalization even as the country’s congress drags its feet on a legalization bill.

In an 8-3 decision on Monday, the court ruled that sections of the country’s general health law prohibiting personal consumption and home cultivation of marijuana were unconstitutional. Adults wanting to cultivate and consume their own cannabis will be able to apply for permits from the health secretariat. Criminal penalties for possessing more than five grams of marijuana or selling the drug remain in place.

Prior to Monday’s decision, adults could petition courts for individual injunctions to grow and consume cannabis. The supreme court first granted injunctions in 2015 in favor of four applicants seeking injunctions to consume and grow marijuana.

As courts granted more injunctions, the court declared jurisprudence on the issue – and in 2017, the supreme court ordered congress to draft laws for creating a legal cannabis market. But congress has asked the court for extensions, twice arguing that technical aspects of the bill required more time and once citing the pandemic.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s ruling Morena party – which identifies as left-leaning – has held majorities in both houses since September 2018.

“There’s a lack of political will,” said Lisa Sánchez, director general of the non-governmental group México Unido Contra la Delincuencia.

“This is a step forward for the rights of cannabis users,” said Zara Snapp, co-founder of Instituto RIA, a thinktank. “But there’s still work to be done in congress to be able to regulate the market in a socially just way.”

Proponents express hopes regulation could diminish some of the violence caused by Mexico’s illegal drugs trade, although organized crime factions no longer focus on marijuana trade as they once did, having shifted their focus to cocaine, synthetic drugs, kidnapping and extortion.

Some observers expressed skepticism that the ruling will change much in the short-term.

Raúl Bejarano, a graduate student studying cannabis regulation, says the cost of permits from the health secretary should cost less than hiring a lawyer to seek an injunction, but the health secretariat could still impose barriers in the application process.

“This is probably what the present government was looking for,” says Bejarano. “It exempts them from their responsibility of creating a regulated market.”

Advocates say this decision underscores the need for legislators to expeditiously pass a measure to implement a comprehensive system of legal and regulated sales. They want to ensure that a market is established that’s equitable, addresses the harms of criminalization on certain communities and promotes personal freedom.

Lawmakers came close to achieving that goal over the past three years—but failed to get the job done.

The Senate approved a legalization bill late last year, and then the Chamber of Deputies made revisions and passed it in March, sending it back to the originating chamber. A couple of Senate committees then took up and cleared the amended measure, but leaders quickly started signaling that certain revisions made the proposal unworkable.

That’s where the situation stood for weeks as the court’s latest April 30 deadline approached. There was an expectation that the Senate would again ask the court for an extension, but that did not take place. Instead, lawmakers have begun floating the idea of holding a special legislative session in order to get the job done this year.

Cannabis use for medicinal purposes has been decriminalized in Mexico since June 2017. Experts say the legal recreational market could be worth billions of dollars in Mexico, where authorities seized 244 tons of marijuana in 2020.

29 comments:

  1. One Congresswoman lack of political will to secure and make Mexico safe. Funnyman likes the cartels.

    ReplyDelete
  2. But everyone is smoking the presidents meth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 3:43 I am sure you dug those news right out of your ass pinche comemierdas

      Delete
  3. Ideas on the impact of this on the cartels?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. they'll tax whoever is legally growing it like avocados.

      They'll kill whoever sells the wrong mota like jale azul vs jale blanco.

      Impact is more $ for cartels, more violence for the people.

      Delete
    2. Yeah, they now have a legitimate source of billions in income until the world ends.

      Woohoo!

      Delete
  4. Big business opportunity for companies that get into this soon-to-explode cannabis industry in Mexico. At this point Mexico probably needs some form of blockchain... let's see what happens.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In that case, I doubt Cartels will happily allow cannabis businesses to operate unchecked. They have that market cornered and won't want to give it up.

      Delete
    2. 4:20 - I guess you don’t know how blockchain works.

      Delete
    3. A gun in your face and you'll cough up cash fuck Bitcoin... They already tax regular farmers... Marijuana farmers won't be diferente... Pay piso... Pesos, dollars or die...

      Delete
    4. 5:24 - Yep, figured. You have absolutely no idea how blockchain works. Read into it and come back when you understand it.

      Delete
    5. 9:27 you can't grow weed on the blockchain... That's the product that is worth the cash... I know how crypto works...in the end, most is exchanges for fiat... The point is...weed doesn't grow on the Intawebz.. I jack your crop i ain't scared of the blockchain police

      Delete
    6. Mexicans could be dumb enough to pay exaggerated prices to make it worth it for the licensed pushers and dispensaries and taxes, but what the greedy motherfackers commenting here do not see is posession will not be prosecuted, trafficking and industrial growing is not what this report is about.
      Dumbasses on the US had spent ten times the money they were expecting to collect in taxes and licenses of the US and will never get the pipe dreams in step with the revenue.

      Delete
    7. I can’t see the average citizen choosing to pay sky high prices for weed in legal dispenseries. Only the small population of wealthy millennials. Most poor choose meth for its low price anyways smh. Really sucks I to see what the youth of Mexico have turned into

      Delete
    8. I like how people here think world is pink, cartels will own the biggest weed companies of Mexico, legally.

      Delete
  5. Mexico is getting hooked on hardcore drugs, this is good timing, mariguana is a soft drug I’m all for it

    ReplyDelete
  6. Se me antoja una caguama bien helada. Y un churro de mostaza.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Weed is not a bad thing when Mexico has every other drug imaginable.

    ReplyDelete
  8. No impact to the illegal trade. Dirt weed will always be cheaper in USA and MX has come a long way up the quality chain. Go to N. California (Humboldt Co.) and ask the local pot farmers. Legalization in California has had no impact with demand and pricing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whites always think they’re the best or los primeros hahahaha

      Up north it’s the whites and the Mexicans growing but it’s the Mexicans that taught those gabachos how to cultivate the right way.

      Whites don’t have no green thumb they’re not Native to this continent pero se creen bien chingones

      Delete
  9. Anybody that smokes MJ is going to have a biased opinion. Im more interested in those who don't smoke MJ, what is your take on this? if you ask me, unless the government wrestles away control of the drug market from the cartels, which aint happening anytime soon, the violence will probably continue and very little will be solved as a result of this. All this does is legitimize the cartels, what was once illegal is now legal and under the control of these bastards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @7:12 Legitimate or not, cartels will thrive in capitalism. So it's whatever.

      This is mainly done so people can smoke a "churro" without being bothered.

      Delete
  10. Replies
    1. 7:37 greed is dangerous,
      Grifa is only one more little business of greed.
      Everybody that wants to somke should grow their own, but be warned of a stiff penalty for hooking young stupid assholes to exploit their addiction later on

      Delete
  11. Just another industry for the criminal govt included to extort and profit off all the hard work and profits some real people put their love and effort into only to get ran over by a few dicks who dont know ant better ! That is some sad shit right there ! But what do I know ? Im a foreigner who used to love to spend my hard earned money in that beautiful country having the time of my life scuba diving and fishing drinking and eating with the locals and smoking quality weed for ridiculously low prices ! What a loser I am !

    ReplyDelete
  12. Did they even prosecute marijuana offenses lmao. Just another tax. Good for them I guess

    ReplyDelete
  13. Who cares, I ain't ever going to Mex again.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yeah. Make the stupid in Mexico even stupider.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated, refer to policy for more information.
Envía fotos, vídeos, notas, enlaces o información
Todo 100% Anónimo;

borderlandbeat@gmail.com