MEXICO CITY (AP) – Mexico’s lower chamber passed a marijuana legalization bill on Wednesday, setting the country on track to become one of the world’s largest legal marijuana markets.
Delegates approved the legislation in general terms, but continued to debate the details late into the night. The passed legislation, which must return to the Senate, would allow recreational use of marijuana, but introduce a licensing system required for the entire chain of production, distribution, transformation and sale.
It would also require individuals, not just user associations, to be licensed to grow plants for personal use. Each individual should have six plants with a maximum of eight per household.
Adults could use marijuana without affecting others or children, but if caught with more than one ounce (28 grams), they will be fined. They could face jail time if they weighed more than 12 pounds (5.6 kilograms).
Opposition parties did not support the legislation, which they believe will lead to more drug use.
In 2015, the Supreme Court of Mexico ruled in favor of the recreational use of marijuana. In 2019, the court ordered the government to create legislation, arguing that banning its use was unconstitutional.
The court has given lawmakers until April 30 to pass a law.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has expressed support and his party, Morena, has a majority in Congress moving the legislation. However, with the ongoing campaigns for the national parliamentary elections in June, the final form of the legislation is still under development.
Critics fear that some of the changes made by the lower chamber threaten its original intent.
For example, in the latest version, lawmakers have abolished the creation of a new government agency specifically for the regulation of marijuana. Instead, management of the new market will go to the existing National Commission Against Addictions, which experts say does not have the capacity to regulate anything so complicated.
“They are going to overturn the law,” said Lisa Sánchez, director of Mexico United Against Crime, one of the non-governmental organizations that has been pushing the legalization of marijuana for years.
Lawmakers in favor of the bill say it will move the marijuana market from the hands of Mexico’s powerful drug cartels to the government.
But experts fear that transnational companies will be the main beneficiaries and not the consumers or farmers who have formed the lowest rung of the drug chain.
Medical use of marijuana has been legal in Mexico since 2017 and is permitted in a number of other Latin American countries. But only Uruguay allows recreational use in the region.
Even if the Senate passed the lower chamber bill without additional changes, it would take a while for it to go into effect. A full regulatory framework should be developed. Such has been the case with medical marijuana, which only started functioning in January with the adoption of the necessary regulations.