Why Mexico is stuck on the road to marijuana legalization

Almost a year after the historic Supreme Court ruling that lifted the ban on recreational marijuana use, recreational cannabis remains in confusing limbo because no self-use permits have been granted nor has Congress legislated on the subject.

On April 20, on World Marijuana Day, activists and human rights defenders linked to the consumption of the plant agree that there is no political will to regulate consumption.

This is because while many bills have passed through Congress and the Senate in recent years and have been given prompt resolution, with marijuana the situation is completely different.

“The behaviors are clear: if they wanted to legislate, since 2018 they could have done so with one hand on their waists. They have had time, options to dialogue, to review, to refine, they have had,” Juan Francisco Torres Landa, founder of the Mexican Society of Responsible and Tolerant Self-Consumption (SMART), told EFE agency this Wednesday.

Disregard of the Supreme Court

The fight for the legalization of marijuana has been in Mexico for more than five years.

One of the first advances came in 2015, when Torres Landa became one of the first four Mexicans to obtain Supreme Court protection to grow and consume marijuana for recreational purposes.

Subsequently, although with substantial delay following its approval in Congress in 2017, the regulations for the sale and distribution of medical marijuana in the country were published in 2021.

But neglecting the Supreme Court's urges on up to three occasions, the Mexican Congress has failed to regulate recreational cannabis.

This is despite the fact that the high court overturned in a historic ruling on June 28, 2021 the articles of the General Health Law that prohibited the use of recreational marijuana.

And on December 2, 2021, the Supreme Court granted an amparo where the ban on sowing, growing and harvesting hemp “for purposes other than medical and scientific” was declared unconstitutional.

However, cannabis remains in a confusing legal limbo, as it continues to be criminalized in the Penal Code and the Government has not yet granted permits for self-use, according to activists and consumers, who can still be arrested for carrying more than five grams of marijuana.

A new initiative

Pepe Rivera, a member of the so-called Sit-in 420 located in front of the Senate in the center of the Mexican capital, explained that the initiative that has been held back in the Upper House for more than a year was not adequate, among other things, because it did not have activists and specialists in the subject.

So much so that limit amounts, a vision more focused on business than on consumers or perpetuated stigmas turned the initiative, promoted by the official Ricardo Monreal, into a text far removed from many cannabis users.

That is why from the Sit-in 420 they presented on February 2 a package of initiatives that are much more progressive and “focused on human rights”.

“Cesar Cravioto (senator of the ruling party) came down and told us 'I want to talk to you' and the first meeting was held here at the sit-in,” Rivera explained.

He explained that the package has the voice of 50 civil associations and, among other things, differs in the number of plants that any user can have, increases the amount in possession, talks about responsible consumption and is “in general an initiative with a vision of human rights”.

The current legislative period ends on 30 April and they do not expect the initiative to reach any port this time, but they do later.

The members of the Sit-in 420 - which for two years and almost three months have been established in front of the Senate and elsewhere in the capital - are positive about this initiative.

But they also recognize that the picture is still complicated because there is a lack of understanding on the part of society, legislators, the federal government and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador himself, who is reluctant to decriminalize marijuana.

Torres Landa said the same thing: “They go around and around because it is clear that for the president it is not a priority. Although they say a left-wing government they are hyper-conservative and in terms of drug policy they frankly don't understand anything that is involved,” he said.

He, unlike Rivera, is negative with the long-term situation for cannabis users in Mexico.

Despite this, this 20th of April is, as every year, a day of celebration.

In the Mexican capital, four stages will be set up on the central Paseo de la Reforma Avenue where there will be musical shows, comedy, circus and even wrestling.

But it will also be a day of protest and another way to try to reach the non-consumer population and continue educational and informative work, a hope in the midst of legislative chaos.

“Informed citizenship would be powerful. We have to understand that our role is an active role, not a passive one, of pushing for legislators and public servants to do the things we hire them for,” said Torres Landa.