Mexico’s President: Legalization Will Advance Through Congress
Mexico’s Congress is set to begin its session next month, and cannabis reform observers are eager to see what happens to cannabis legalization policy efforts that have been languishing for many months.
The Mexico Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that cannabis prohibition was unconstitutional and tasked Mexico’s lawmakers to draft, pass, and implement a cannabis regulation and legalization measure. The original deadline in which to do so was one year, however, 2019 came and went.
A new deadline was granted, and lawmakers then had until the end of April this year to comply with the Court’s ruling. Unfortunately, due to COVID that deadline came and went and a new deadline of December 15 is in place.
It is unclear what would happen if the new deadline was not complied with, yet cannabis reform supporters are hopeful that it will ultimately prove to be a moot point after Mexico’s President made comments recently that were very encouraging. Per Marijuana Moment:
The president of Mexico says that marijuana legalization will advance through Congress when it reconvenes next month—and he won’t stand in the way.
During a press conference on Wednesday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was asked about a recent meeting with a key senator who is championing the cannabis reform legislation and whether he’s supportive of the proposal.
He emphasized that “it must be taken into account that we are respectful of the division and balance between powers” when it comes to the executive and legislative branches of government, according to a translation, adding that the marijuana proposal has “been around for a long time.”
Mexico has a long history when it comes to the War on Drugs, and that includes cannabis. If/when legalization gets passed in Mexico it will be very interesting to see how things play out because of how complicated things are there.
It will also be interesting to see how the United States’ federal government reacts. After all, the United States will then be sandwiched in between two legal countries. Only time will tell.