On Tuesday, a member of the Mexican Senate introduced another initiative to regulate the adult consumption of cannabis, a move that comes just weeks ahead of a deadline to establish regulations mirroring recent Supreme Court rulings that have deemed the prohibition of cannabis to be unconstitutional.
Pointing to parts of the United States, Canada, and Uruguay as examples of jurisdictions that have approached the topic “with seriousness and responsibility,” Senator Julio Menchaca Salazar introduced his initiative saying that it is meant to complement the other nine that are already being contemplated by the Senate’s Justice Commission.
(Read Cannabis Wire’s comprehensive coverage of Mexico’s path to legalization.)
Menchaca Salazar, a member of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party (which has a majority in both houses of Congress), also shared that the Justice Commission has teamed up with other legislative groups, including the Health and Public Security Commissions, to craft a policy that will regulate every aspect of cannabis use, including medical products and textiles.
In addition to the crime and violence that prohibition has brought about in the country, Menchaca Salazar continued, prohibition has also led to a loss of tax revenue. “What’s very clear,” Salazar added, “is that the prohibition of any product, particularly that of a narcotic, is a social risk.”
The Commission, he said, will continue working on those regulations next week with a series of conversations among experts, which will be open to the public, just like the roundtable discussions hosted by the Senate last month. According to the Senator, more than 500 people participated.
The lawmakers, Menchaca Salazar concluded, expect to present a comprehensive, final product to their colleagues before the end of the month.
