Mexico Legalizes Medical Cannabis

On Monday, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto issued a decree verifying the legalization of medical cannabis in Mexico. It’s the final legislative step in approving medical cannabis on a federal scale. Under the decree, the Ministry of Health will have power to draft and implement regulations on cannabis and its derivatives.

On April 28, Mexico’s Lower House overwhelmingly approved the bill 347 -7. The initiative easily passed the Senate in December 2016. The nation’s Ministry of Health will “design and implement public policies regulating the medicinal use of pharmacological derivatives of cannabis sativa, indica and Americana or marijuana, including tetrahydrocannabinol, its isomers and stereochemical variants, as well as how to regulate the research and national production of them.”

Only cannabis with one percent or less THC will be permitted, however the Ministry of Health will look at research and ultimately decide the final regulations and infrastructure for Mexico’s medical cannabis system.

Peña Nieto has never smoked cannabis, but has recently shifted gears to acknowledge the healing properties of cannabis. “Undoubtedly, the terms of the drug debate are changing in Mexico and in the world,” Peña Nieto said in April. “We Mexicans know well the scope and limitations of the essentially prohibitive and punitive scheme of the so-called ‘war on drugs’, which has predominated for over 40 years at the international level.” Last year, Peña Nieto introduced a bill that would allow Mexican citizens to possess up to 28 grams of cannabis without any punishment, but the bill stalled in Congress. He also defended medical cannabis at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs on April 19.

The ineffective “War on Drugs,” which focused on cartel activity in border areas, has led to over 164,000 deaths between 2007 and 2014. The shocking body count is higher than the death tolls from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined over the same time period, according to data from the United Nations. Legalizing medical cannabis, Peña Nieto understands, can put cartels out of business without leading to excessive casualties.