Mexico edges closer towards legalising marijuana

On Thursday, the Mexican Senate approved a comprehensive bill legalising marijuana for recreational and medicinal use. Pending approval by the lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies (which has until December 15 to study and debate it), the bill aims to reduce violence linked to drug trafficking. If approved, Mexico would be the third country in the world, after Uruguay and Canada, to legalise adult-use marijuana. 

“Its objective is to promote peace and security in society, contributing to the reduction of the illegal market for psychoactive cannabis and with it, organized crime, corruption and violence,” the Senate said in a statement.

The bill was brought to a vote on the Senate floor, where it was debated and approved in general terms with 82 votes in favor, seven abstentions and 18 against.

A landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2015 allowed for recreational use of marijuana in Mexico, a year after lawmakers legalised it for medicinal use. However, there are still certain restrictions in place as it is still illegal to carry more than 5 grams. The proposed law increases this threshold limit to 28 grams. 

It also proposes that anyone found to be carrying between 28 and 200 grams would be fined, and anyone with more than 200 grams could be criminally prosecuted. At home, individuals would be allowed to grow six plants per person for their own consumption.

Mexico is rife with drug-related violence, with over 100,000 lives claimed by it. Since the government militarized the fight against the widespread drug cartels in 2006, there have been around 296,000 murders.