Lawmakers In Mexico Miss Another Cannabis Legalization Deadline

At the end of 2018, Mexico’s Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling, determining that cannabis prohibition was unconstitutional in Mexico.

As part of the ruling, the Court at the time mandated that lawmakers pass a legalization measure within one year to fully implement the Court’s ruling. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

The Court then issued an extension, and then another extension, and then yet another extension. Lawmakers failed to meet the latest extension, which expired at the end of April, as reported by Marijuana Moment:

This session, it seemed like the reform would finally be achieved. 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 after June’s elections in order to get the job done this year.

A special session may be a really good idea, in that it lets lawmakers focus on passing the required cannabis legalization measure without all of the distractions that come with a standard session.

Mexico needs to do something that hasn’t been tried in the past because at this point legalization in Mexico is a ‘failure to launch.’ Part of that is due to COVID, however, a big part of it is just the slow-moving process that can be politics at times.

Lawmakers need to put their differences and special interests aside and do what is best for the country, including especially for cannabis consumers and patients in Mexico.