After three delays, the Supreme Court set April 30, 2021 as the deadline for Congress to regulate the law. This year 2021 is coming to an end, so we decided to prepare a small summary on marijuana regulation in Mexico this year. Supporters of marijuana legalization argue the bill is too limited, even though it represents a symbolic breakthrough in efforts to end a war on drugs that has claimed the lives of more than 150,000 people, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. This is despite the fact that in a landmark ruling on June 28, 2021, the Supreme Court struck down sections of the General Health Act that prohibited recreational marijuana use. “Today is a historic day for freedoms. After a long journey, this Supreme Court consolidates the right to free development of personality for the recreational and recreational use of marijuana,” Supreme Court President Arturo Zaldívar said after the vote. The fight for marijuana legalization has been going on in Mexico© for more than five years. Even though the legalization of marijuana in Mexico did not take place in 2021, the immediate approval of the law will lead to the formalization of medical use, the development of the hemp sector and its thousands of uses, as well as new social and economic opportunities to help Mexico achieve its Sustainable Development Goals. Four years later, in 2021, the regulation of the General Health Law on health control for the production, research and medical use of cannabis and its pharmacological derivatives was published. Indeed, while many bills have passed ± Congress and the Senate in recent years and passed immediately, the situation with marijuana is completely different. In recent years, there has been a growing wave in favor of legalizing marijuana not only for medical purposes, but also for recreational purposes in many countries around the world. Mexico has been engaged in this process for several years, but its law is still pending. These are some keys to understanding the time where it is and the current panorama of the region.
Nearly a year after©Mexico`s landmark ± Supreme Court decision overturned the ban on legal marijuana use, recreational cannabis remains in a confused limbo as no personal use permits have been issued or Congress has passed legislation on the issue. If passed, Mexico will join Canada and Uruguay in a short but growing list of countries that have legalized marijuana in America, giving new impetus to the anti-prohibition movement in the region. In the United States, Senate Democrats have also promised to repeal drug prohibition this year. Security experts agree that the practical impact of the violence law is likely to be minimal: with 15 U.S. companies legalizing marijuana, they say, cultivation has become a relatively small share of Mexico`s drug trade, with cartels focusing on more profitable products like fentanyl and methamphetamines. The decision sought to make Mexico the third U.S. country to legalize recreational marijuana nationwide, after Uruguay and Canada. During the Supreme Court session, Judge Piña emphasized that until Congress legislates on the issue, “it is in no way authorized to import, exchange or supply marijuana.” With the publication of the declaration in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), Mexicans can apply for permits for the private consumption, cultivation and transport of marijuana from the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris), which is part of the Ministry of Health. The initiative, adopted by the Senate on November 19, allows smoking marijuana without the presence of minors, to have up to 8 plants per household and to create smoking associations with a maximum of 50 plants.
It`s also unclear to what extent the law will benefit Mexico`s poor farmers, who have been growing marijuana for decades and often find themselves in the middle of conflicts between warring drug trafficking groups. Some activists fear the law will unduly favour large companies, which could obtain a “full license” giving them access to the entire marijuana supply chain, from seed to sale, while excluding small producers and sellers from the lucrative market. After several subpoenas from marijuana users, the Supreme Court ruled the ban unconstitutional because it violated “free personality development” and ordered Congress to address the issue in 2019. It also establishes a licensing system for the cultivation, cultivation, harvesting and sale of marijuana and derivatives containing non-psychoactive cannabis. What happened to the legalization of marijuana in Mexico in 2021? Sometimes it`s hard to keep up with so many changes because cannabis regulation is such a complex issue. And on 2. In December 2021, the Supreme Court issued an injunction declaring unconstitutional the ban on planting, cultivating and harvesting ±amo “for purposes other than medical©and scientific.” The judgment of the First Chamber was delivered because several persons from Cofepris requested authorization to regularly and personally consume marijuana, for recreational or recreational purposes and to carry out the activities corresponding to personal consumption (sowing, cultivation, harvesting, preparation, possession, transport and, in general, any act related to the recreational and personal consumption of marijuana). Provided that its request expressly excludes “commercial acts such as distribution, sale and assignment thereof”. It should be noted that the discussion on marijuana legalization went to plenary after the Justice and Health Committee approved the opinion last Monday. After a four-year delay, the regulation of medical cannabis in Mexico was published on January 12, 2021. Following the failure of the Mexican Congress to regulate recreational cannabis, the Supreme Court approved on Monday, June 28, 2021 a landmark decision that lifts the ban on recreational self-use of marijuana in Mexico, although it does not approve its commercialization.
