Panel In Mexico To Make Cannabis Legalization Recommendations

In 2018 Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that cannabis prohibition was unconstitutional, and tasked lawmakers in Mexico with passing legislation to implement cannabis legalization.

The court decision effectively made Mexico the third country to legalize cannabis for adult-use, with the first two being Uruguay and Canada. Both of those countries passed legislation to legalize cannabis for adult use.

The court decision in Mexico put a deadline in place that lawmakers were bound by – one year from the court ruling. That deadline came and went, yet no legislation was passed by Mexico’s lawmakers.

An extension was granted by the Supreme Court of Mexico, and lawmakers now have until April 30th to make it happen. It is unclear what would happen if the new deadline is missed. Recently Mexico’s President announced that a panel will conduct research and offer up recommendations to lawmakers. Per Marijuana Moment:

The president of Mexico said on Monday that a government panel is being formed in order to make recommendations for a legal marijuana system in the country.

While he didn’t offer many details about the commission, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said it will be focused on studying public health aspects of legalization.

Only time will tell if some, or any, of the provisions recommended by the government panel will make it into any successful legislation. For that matter, only time will tell if lawmakers succeed in passing legalization legislation prior to the deadline.

For a brief time last year, it appeared that the push for a legalization measure would be successful, however, the effort stalled after special interests made a big push to kill the measure that seemed to have the most potential. April 30th is not far away. Hopefully lawmakers can get the job done this time, and pass sensible legislation.