The Senate of Mexico opens process to decriminalize marijuana

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The political will, that great milestone that marijuana faces all over the world, seems to have been overthrown in Mexico, a country whose interest in decriminalization arises from within the executive branch. 

This was confirmed on Wednesday by the parties Morena (ruling), PAN and Movimiento Ciudadano, which agreed to go through a process of gradual decriminalization of cannabis based on the latest jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), regarding that those who “personally” consume this type of drug should not be criminalized.

“To not try and not criminalize those who are innocent and who personally consume this type of drug,” said the Senator of the National Regeneration Movement (Brunette), Martha Lucía Micher.

By participating in the Marijuana Regulation Forum, legislators from different parties demonstrated by dusting off various initiatives related to the leisure and recreational use of the plant, and in particular for medicinal use.

“On the other hand, how to define the suitability of citizens to access this market, both in its consumption and in its commercialization, the regulation to define it in its different modalities, from self-consumption, the prohibition of sale in the established market, as well as joining the cooperatives provided in the proposals they have presented among other things. In this sense, a policy of legalizing marijuana in Mexico should be gradual with the rest of the world, “said PAN senator Marco Antonio Gama.

The senator of Movimiento Ciudadano, Patricia Mercado, indicated that the imprisonment of consumers has not served to improve public health in the country. “There are no solid reasons to support the total prohibition of marijuana in strictly legal terms. The Supreme Court, as the president of our commission has already declared, has declared the prohibition established in the Health Law unconstitutional. The jurisprudence of the Court states that adults exercising their free development of their personality, have the right to cultivate cannabis for personal consumption, “he said.

One of the most internationally recognized consultants on the subject of cannabis use, Dustin Moore, pointed out that, in order to legalize the use of cannabis in a broad spectrum, Mexico should prepare to be the leader of the Cannabis Economy. “Thanks to the hard work and authorities like you and thousands more around the world, the ban finally ended,” said the expert.

Finally, the president of the Board of Political Coordination of the Senate, Ricardo Monreal, said that achieving a regulation by itself will not end with the consumption of marijuana, but neither will it stimulate it, on the contrary, it would bring positive consequences by reducing the rates of violence that are daily lived by the fights between the cartels that dispute the territory for the illicit sale of the plant.

Monreal Ávila affirmed that the prohibition of cannabis has resulted in an immense number of deaths, displacements and categorical violations of Human Rights in Mexico. He stressed that it is necessary to change the approach to the use of cannabis to address its use with a public health approach, which gives importance to the right to self-determination in consumption as well as regulating its production, distribution and consumption, as is currently done with legal drugs.

Source: La Marihuana

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