Mexico: Lawmakers Advance Adult-Use Legalization Plan

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.