Initiative to regulate marijuana use in Mexico advances “December 15th deadline looming”

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President Andrés Manuel López Obrador does not agree with the initiative, which if approved, he must enact.

Commissions of the Mexican Senate approved this Friday (11/13/2020) a bill that regulates the consumption of marijuana for recreational purposes in the country, replacing a similar opinion approved last March but that was never voted in the plenary session of the camera.

The ruling abolishes the articles of the General Health Law and the Penal Code that prohibit the recreational use of marijuana, thus fulfilling a ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice, and also creates the Federal Law for the Regulation of Cannabis.

In a virtual meeting for the covid-19 pandemic, the Justice, Health and Legislative Studies commissions endorsed the initiative, which they will send to the plenary session next week.

If approved in full, it must be ratified by the Chamber of Deputies and promulgated by the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is not in favor of a recreational use of marijuana despite the fact that the initiative was promoted by his party, the leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena).

The text in question allows the consumption of marijuana for recreational purposes as long as it is not in front of minors, increases the amount of cannabis that can be possessed from 5 to 28 grams and authorizes the ability to grow four plants per person. 

Marijuana for medicinal purposes

Only the possession of more than 200 grams of cannabis will be penalized, while having between 28 and 200 grams will result in a fine.

Smoking marijuana will only be allowed in private homes and in the premises of cannabis consumption associations.

Unlike the bill approved in March, the new initiative establishes that the Ministry of Health will be in charge of policies on this matter instead of the Ministry of the Interior, and does not address the issue of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

This legislation derives from the ruling of the Supreme Court in 2018 that gave the reason to five appeals for protection that denounced the unconstitutionality of several articles of the General Health Law that prohibit the recreational use of cannabis, for which jurisprudence was established.

The court ruled that denying the self-consumption of cannabis to persons of legal age “violates the right to free development of the personality.”

Last November, the Supreme Court ruled that the Mexican Congress must have regulated the recreational use of marijuana before April 30.

However, legislators asked for an extension due to the covid-19 pandemic and the final deadline was extended until December 15.

Source: dw.com/es

Mexico Daily Post