Tag: Mexico

The road towards adult-use cannabis legalization in Mexico has been full of twists, turns, detours, and in some cases dead ends. In late 2018 Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that cannabis prohibition as it pertained to personal use was unconstitutional. Since that time lawmakers have tried, and failed, to pass a Court-mandated measure to establish an adult-use industry in Mexico.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s emerging medical cannabis program and industry have moved along in the shadows of adult-use reform. As is the case in every country, there are countless suffering patients in Mexico that can benefit from safe access to medical cannabis.

Fortunately for patients in the Oaxaca area, medical cannabis cultivation licenses were issued to over two-dozen community entities that will further boost safe access in the region. Per Politico MX (translated from Spanish to English):

In Oaxaca, 26 social organizations belonging to Oaxacan communities received permits from the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks ( Cofepris ) for the management, selection and cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Among the benefited places are San Dionisio Ocotepec and San Pablo Guilá , who from now on will be able to process cannabis for the production of products whose objectives are to help different medical treatments.

Horacio Sosa Villavicencio, a deputy from Morena, indicated that it was not an easy road, but that thanks to the community organization and the solidarity that exists in the native peoples governed under the regime of uses and customs, it was possible to achieve these authorizations.

Oaxaca has made international headlines multiple times in recent weeks. As we previously reported, city officials in Oaxaca recently issued a directive to local police to leave cannabis consumers alone, even when they are consuming cannabis in public spaces.

Safe access to medical cannabis is extremely important, as is the ability to safely consume medical cannabis after it is legally acquired. For many patients, finding a place to consume cannabis can be tricky.

With that in mind, it’s a great thing to know that if a patient in Oaxaca has to consume cannabis outside of a private residence for whatever reason, they will be able to do so without being persecuted.

The path towards adult-use legalization in Mexico has proven to be long and full of twists and turns. For many years Mexico prohibited cannabis in all forms, however, in 2017 it finally legalized cannabis for medical use to some extent.

That following year, in 2018, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that cannabis prohibition as it pertains to personal use was unconstitutional. It was a landmark ruling that was celebrated at the time around the world. Similar decisions were also handed down in South Africa and Italy.

In Mexico specifically, the Court tasked lawmakers with passing legislation to fully implement the Court’s decision and initially gave a one-year deadline. Lawmakers requested an extension and were granted one that expired in April 2020.

Due to the onset of the pandemic, lawmakers requested another deadline. And then another. As it stands right now, it’s anyone’s guess as to when Mexico will finally get a legalization bill to the finish line.

With a new session starting next month, international cannabis enthusiasts are hopeful that a bill will finally be passed this time around. Per Politico (translated from Spanish):

Proposals have been submitted; however, these have not prospered due to the lack of consensus on the subject. In this sense, it is expected that in the next ordinary period, which begins on February 1, the parliamentary groups that have a presence in the Senate will begin with the analysis of the issue.

Parts of Mexico are developed and full of economic opportunity, however, much of the country lives in poverty. It is no secret that Mexico has been ravaged by the War on Drugs, and that cannabis prohibition fueled the issue to some extent. Creating a regulated adult-use industry will do a lot to help Mexico’s citizens.

The desire to legalize cannabis for adult use in Mexico is strong among lawmakers, and it’s not a question of if Mexico will pass a bill, it’s a question of when? Lawmakers in Mexico have argued over provisions of a regulated industry for far too long. Hopefully this session proves to be the one that yields a successful, fair, and equitable legalization measure.

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.

Mexico has been on the cusp of legalizing cannabis for adult use since late 2018 when Mexico’s Supreme Court issued a ruling that struck down cannabis prohibition as being unconstitutional.

As part of the decision, Mexico’s Supreme Court mandated that lawmakers pass legislation that implemented the Court’s ruling and create a regulated adult-use cannabis industry.

Multiple extensions had to be granted because lawmakers in Mexico failed to meet the initial one-year Court deadline, as well as subsequent deadlines.

Some of the deadlines could not be met due to COVID, however, part of the blame lies squarely on lawmakers that have failed to get on the same page. Fortunately, there is movement in Mexico’s Senate, as reported by Marijuana Moment:

A bill to legalize marijuana in Mexico moved another step closer to final floor consideration in the Senate on Tuesday.

While the chamber approved the legislation last year, it then passed in revised form in the Chamber of Deputies last month and was sent back to the Senate for final consideration. On Tuesday, a second Senate committee advanced the amended legislation, with one more panel set to take it up before it moves to the floor.

The Second Legislative Studies Committee approved the bill one day after the Justice Committee cleared it. The next stop for the proposal is the Health Committee, which could happen as soon as Wednesday—setting up potential action by the full body on Thursday.

Many times lawmakers in Mexico have indicated that they ‘have it’ when it comes to getting a measure to the finish line just for the claims to fizzle.

At this point, it’s best to be cautiously optimistic. If Mexico finally legalizes cannabis for adult use before any other country beats them to it, Mexico will be the third country to legalize recreational cannabis behind Uruguay and Canada.

In late 2018 Mexico’s Supreme Court issued a ruling striking down cannabis prohibition. Mexico’s highest court (no pun intended) deemed Mexico’s cannabis prohibition policy to be unconstitutional.

Initially, Mexico’s Supreme Court gave lawmakers a one-year deadline to pass legislation to implement the Court’s decision. Unfortunately, that initial deadline was not met and lawmakers requested an extension, which the Court granted.

The second deadline could not be met due to the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and another extension was granted, this time with a deadline of the end of 2020.

With the pandemic failing to subside, yet another extension was granted, this time for April 2021. Unlike previous pushes for a legalization measure by lawmakers in Mexico, it appears that the third time could be the charm. Below is more information about it via a news release sent to us from our friends at NORML:

Lawmakers in Mexico’s lower chamber voted 316 to 129 on Wednesday in favor of amended legislation to legalize and license the adult-use marijuana market. Because House lawmakers made changes to the language of the bill, it must now go back to the Senate for reconsideration.

“We applaud lawmakers in Mexico for advancing a more just and sensible marijuana policy in their country,” commented NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri, “By legalizing the possession and personal cultivation of marijuana by adults, and regulating its commercial sale, our neighbors to the south are implementing marijuana laws that represent common sense, sound public policy, and popular opinion. Our own elected officials should learn from their Mexican counterparts, in addition to those governing our northern neighbor Canada, and finally end our failed federal prohibition of marijuana.”

Under the proposal, those ages 18 and older would be permitted to legally possess personal use quantities of cannabis (up to 28 grams). Home cultivation of up to six plants is also permitted. Corporate production and retail sales will be allowed under a commercial licensing scheme.

Medical cannabis production and distribution, which is already permitted on a limited basis, will continue to be regulated separately by Mexico’s health ministry.

In 2018, justices on Mexico’s Supreme Court struck down Mexico’s marijuana criminalization laws and ordered lawmakers to enact legislation regulating the plant’s production, sale, and use.

If approved, Mexico will join Canada and Uruguay as the only other countries to have formally adopted marijuana legalization nationwide.

The war on cannabis has always been a war on people. The harms of cannabis prohibition have caused havoc and suffering all over the globe, including in North America.

For many decades cannabis was completely prohibited in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Cannabis is still prohibited at the federal level in the United States, and in Mexico it’s still prohibited for adult use, however, cannabis is legal nationwide in Canada now.

At the local level cannabis is legal for adult use in a growing list of states in the US despite federal prohibition. Virginia recently announced that it will legalize cannabis for adult use in the coming years, making it the 16th state to do so. Washington D.C. has also legalized cannabis for adult use.

All of that legalization is coupled with medical cannabis reform. Medical cannabis is now legal almost everywhere in North America in one form or another, from limited CBD laws all the way up to robust medical cannabis programs.

Reform victories have led to the creation of numerous legal cannabis markets throughout the North American continent, including in the United States where the demand for cannabis is tremendous.

One of the biggest selling points for cannabis legalization is that it transfers cannabis sales from an unregulated system that has a large organized crime and cartel presence to a regulated system that provides for the sale of tested, regulated, and taxed products, with taxes benefitting all of society.

There’s new data out regarding seizures of cannabis at the US/Mexico border, which is insightful given how much unregulated cannabis has been smuggled from Mexico into the US over the course of many decades.

As expected, border seizures have diminished with more consumers opting to shop within a regulated system, which is detailed in a news release below via our friends at NORML:

Marijuana seizures along the southern border have fallen over 80 percent since 2013, according to data published this week by the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

In the agency’s 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment publication, author’s write: “In US markets, Mexican marijuana has largely been supplanted by domestic-produced marijuana. In 2019, CBP [US Customs and Border Protection] seized nearly 249,000 kilograms of marijuana along the SWB [southwest border], a decline from over 287,000 kilograms in 2018. CBP marijuana seizures along the SWB have decreased more than 81 percent since 2013, when almost 1.3 million kilograms were seized.”

Marijuana seizures at the southern border reached an all-time high in 2009, when nearly four million pounds of cannabis were confiscated by federal agents.

Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize the commercial production of marijuana for adults in 2012. Thirteen additional US states have since passed similar laws.

Commenting on the sharp decrease in US demand for Mexican-produced cannabis, NORML’s Political Director Justin Strekal said: “This dramatic shift in the cannabis supply chain is a welcome development. As reformers predicted, when given the option, consumers choose their cannabis to be grown in America. States’ decisions to legally regulate cannabis has, as expected, led to a precipitous drop in demand for imported cannabis and has significantly disrupted the illicit cannabis trade in Mexico. These are important developments to emphasize as additional states continue to discuss replacing cannabis criminalization policies with those that seek to legalize and regulate the marijuana marketplace.”

The full text of the DEA’s 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment is available for download.

In late 2018 Mexico made international headlines and turned heads in the global cannabis community when Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that cannabis prohibition was unconstitutional.

When the Supreme Court rendered the decision, it mandated that lawmakers in Mexico pass a cannabis legalization measure to codify the decision and work to implement the new law.

Originally, the Court issued a one-year deadline. Unfortunately, as the one-year deadline approached, it was obvious that lawmakers in Mexico would not be able to comply with the mandate.

Lawmakers in Mexico were granted a new deadline, April 2020, and that extension was also not met due to COVID. Yet another deadline was granted, and yet another time the deadline could not be met, as reported by Reuters:

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday blamed small draft errors for a delay in approving a new law that would legalize cannabis and effectively create one of the world’s largest weed markets.

The bill was due to be approved by Dec. 15, but it has been delayed to next year, with the Supreme Court setting a new deadline of April 30 for the law to be passed, according to local media.

Lopez Obrador said legislators requested a delay as time had run out before the current session in Congress ended this month, meaning there was not enough time to review the bill.

The legalization saga in Mexico continues. Will the latest deadline be met, or will another extension be requested? Only time will tell.

Lawmakers in Mexico have expressed optimism on several occasions just for that optimism to deflate. Eventually, Mexico will push the effort over the top, but it is anyone’s guess when that will be. Hopefully, it is sooner rather than later.

The country’s lawmakers have a deadline to meet, set by the Supreme Court

Mexican lawmakers are set to vote this week on cannabis legalization mandated by the Supreme Court to happen before December 15. Indeed Mexico is the only country, so far, to have had to go to the Supreme Court twice, not just once (as for example happened in Canada). First to move the issue of medical reform forward, and then on the recreational side. It is also the only country so far where the issue of recreational cannabis reform is mandated by a country’s top judicial legal body.

The legislation is intended to regulate the recreational and hemp market. The medical vertical is beyond the scope of focus. Mexico actually approved medical cannabis in 2017 – but the law has never been properly implemented.

What Next?

The legislation will make provisions for the establishment of a cannabis agency. It is also expected to create a licensing infrastructure for a nascent industry. Foreign ownership of licenses would also be limited.

This in turn creates the fascinating political reality of the United States being bordered on both sides, with federally legal recreational cannabis markets.

The implications of the same at a time when federal reform has all but been put on a backburner in the U.S.- no matter whether the House of Representatives votes for reform or not before the end of this legislative session – are significant for the American discussion. Namely, why, in a country ravaged by a pandemic, and where a third of the population live in a recreational reformed state, has final and full reform stalled?

That said, given the forward motion on reform, just about everywhere, the idea of the U.S. continuing to foment the Drug War south of the border is as outdated as the idea of resisting the green wave, no matter how slowly it is moving.

Latin America Is Moving Beyond The Drug War

With the U.S. at least side-lined in this discussion, cannabis reform in Latin America and the Caribbean is finally unshackled from the threat of U.S. military intervention or financial sanctions (see banking). Reform is clearly moving forward in the region (see Argentina of late).

The next question, however, rather glaringly on the table, is where will most cannabis in the future be sourced from? Imports to the U.S. from Latin America are indeed not all that far away and that path is opening already between Latin America and Europe.

For the most up to date information on the rapidly changing global cannabis industry, be sure to book your tickets to the International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns to Europe