Last week the Mexican Senate approved a bill legalizing marijuana nationally in a landslide victory. A supermajority of 82 senators voted in favor of the bill, which would legalize the possession, use and cultivation of marijuana for personal use, as well as create and regulate a legal cannabis market spanning all of Mexico.
In its current version, the legalization bill will make it legal for all Mexicans to carry up to 28 grams (one ounce) of marijuana and grow as many as six plants at home—or eight plants for a household. Smoking marijuana will be legal at home and in some designated spaces; possession of more than 28 grams but less than 200 grams would be punishable by fine but no jail time. The government will have to expunge the criminal records of individuals with past cannabis offences within six months, the bill plans.
The current bill is the second version of this initiative. Nearly a year ago, Mexican lawmakers came close to legalizing cannabis, but the bill stagnated and was ultimately derailed by coronavirus. The reason why the country is working collectively to end the prohibition of marijuana is because of two rulings issued in October 2018 by the Mexican Supreme Court, which determined that marijuana prohibition is unconstitutional. The deadline given to lawmakers to legalize the substance has been pushed back due to circumstances, but we are now in the last leg: Mexico has until Tuesday, Dec. 15, to complete the legalization process.
When marijuana is fully legalized, Mexico will become the third country where marijuana is fully legal, with Uruguay and Canada. In other words, the United States will become the only country without nationwide legalization in a North American sandwich of progressivism. Once the bill goes through, Mexico will be the world’s largest legal marijuana market.
Legal cannabis has been in the air in the Mexican Congress in more ways than one. There have been several instances of cannabis being gifted to lawmakers, or senators proudly displaying a cannabis plant in Congress. Activists launched “Plantón 420,” a space in front of the Senate where thick marijuana shrubs have been cultivated for months to put pressure on lawmakers. Not only did the Mexican government turn a blind eye to the cultivation of marijuana under its very nose, it even allows Mexicans to smoke freely in that space, as if legalization were already a done deal. It might very well be, in fact.
For now, two steps are left for the bill to be law: It has to be approved by Mexico’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, and by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. This is a sign for hope, as the president is the founder of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party, which controls a large majority of the Chamber of Deputies and was instrumental to the victory in the Senate.
The president also confirmed that he will not oppose the bill, and that he will respect the decision of the legislative branch. “They are going to decide freely,” President López Obrador said, adding that if lawmakers decide it, “there is going to be a legal reform.” By his own words, Mexico can expect full legalization to be approved in the current legislative session.
