Mexico: Supreme Court decriminalizes recreational use of cannabis
Cannabis flowers.
The Supreme Court of Mexico decriminalizes the recreational use of cannabis (Image illustration).
Angela Weiss AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
In a country where powerful drug cartels operate, the Supreme Court officially decriminalized on Monday (June 28th) the legal use of marijuana for adults.
Eight of the eleven members of this body thus declared unconstitutional a series of articles of the Mexican law on health which prohibited the consumption of marijuana.
Publicity
Read more
"
Today is a historic day for freedoms,
" said the President of the Court, Arturo Zaldívar, after the vote.
The Supreme Court's decision comes after the Mexican Congress failed to pass a law on the issue before the April 30 deadline set by the country's highest court.
On March 10, the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill to this effect.
A vote on the text was pending in the Senate, which had already approved it in November but had to resume it after several amendments added by the lower house.
However, in early April, the Senate majority said it planned to postpone final discussion of the law until September.
Ricardo Monreal, the parliamentary coordinator of the ruling Morena party then declared that the law emanating from the Chamber of Deputies "
contained inconsistencies
".
The declaration approved by the Supreme Court on Monday means that those who now want to use marijuana for recreational purposes can apply for authorization from the Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris).
The latter will not be able to refuse it to them.
"
In the past, Cofepris refused these authorizations,"
explains Adriana Muro, director of the human rights organization Elementa, quoted by AFP.
D
now dealing permission should be granted automatically.
"
No legislation
Although civil organizations and scholars applaud the Supreme Court's ruling, they caution that Congress has yet to legislate on the issue.
"
The decision [of the Supreme Court] does not affect the framework of criminal justice and leaves a legal vacuum with regard to the consumption, cultivation and distribution of cannabis,
" said the NGO Mexico United Against Crime on Twitter.
However, the decision of the highest legal body in the country is an important step for Mexico, which has 126 million inhabitants.
The country has been in a spiral of violence since 2006, when the then federal government launched a controversial anti-drug military operation.
Since then, Mexico has recorded more than 300,000 murders.
As of January 12, the government had already regulated the production, handling and marketing of
medical marijuana
.
If passed by the Mexican Congress, the legalization of cannabis will make Mexico the third country to allow it nationally for recreational use, after
Uruguay
and Canada.
It is also opening up a high-risk front with the drug cartels which are the powerful masters of this sector of activity.
In 2020, Mexican authorities seized 244 tonnes of marijuana.
According to the latest national drug survey in 2016, 7.3 million Mexicans between the ages of 12 and 65 have used marijuana multiple times.
(
With
AFP)
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Mexico
Drug
On the same subject
Mexico
Mexico: legalization of cannabis for medical use
Mexico: Senate approves bill that legalizes recreational use of cannabis
Mexico to legalize recreational use of cannabis