Mexico presents its law to legalize cannabis

Last week, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that prohibiting the simple use of cannabis was unconstitutional, This decision effectively decriminalized the possession, cultivation and consumption of cannabis for personal use. This decision effectively decriminalized the possession, cultivation and consumption of cannabis for personal use, and gave the government 90 days to bring national laws into line with the Federal Court's ruling. The main question that remained was: would the government allow legal trade in cannabis?

A legal cannabis market for Mexico

Senator and future Minister of the Interior, Olga Sanchez Cordero, has just tabled a legal text aimed, among other things, at regulating cannabis sales and thus the future Mexican legal cannabis market. Luckily, the court ruling comes at a time when the Mexican government was already considering legalization to respond to the failure of prohibitionist policies, which had resulted in an escalation of violence. As a result, the government's reaction was relatively swift, and Olga Sanchez Cordero was able to introduce the text in record time.

Eloi's proposal states that the major challenge of regulation is to find a balance between public health considerations and often conflicting commercial interests. This is why it is proposed to set up «a model of strict legal regulation; (...) the happy medium between absolute prohibition and the free market». In this system, which broadly resembles the Californian one, sales by private individuals are authorized, but the production and distribution chains are monitored and regulated by various means, including licensing. This is not a government monopoly or a free market, but a hybrid system with an open market supervised by a government body.

The law provides for the creation of a specialized institute, similar to the Californian Cannabis Bureau: the Mexican Institute for Cannabis Regulation and Control. Affiliated to the Ministry of Health, it will be responsible for drawing up all the regulations needed to launch Mexico's legal cannabis market. Its prerogatives extend to a wide range of areas, including setting up a preventive health information system, regulating the production and distribution chain, establishing security measures and taxation.

More specifically, the institute will have to define THC and CBD limits, the varieties of cannabis authorized for production, as well as the chemical components tolerated and in what quantities. It will also have to define the location, number and opening hours of sales outlets and, above all, the criteria for granting licenses. The type of license will be determined by the type of production: for pharmaceutical, therapeutic, recreational or industrial use. Finally, the Institute will determine the amount of taxes and packaging regulations. The text of the law already includes a ban on advertising cannabis and the sale of’edibles. In addition, stores selling cannabis will not be allowed to sell other products not derived from cannabis.

On the individual side, Mexican cannabis consumers will be able to produce their own. The law will limit self-cultivation to 20 plants and a harvest not exceeding 480 grams per year (and too bad for those who make 1g per watt). It will also authorize cooperative cultivation, based on the Spanish model, with a limit of 480 grams harvested per year per member and 150 members, with surplus production going to scientific research. Consumption will be tolerated in all public places where tobacco is also tolerated, and for adults over 18 only.

Establishing a legal market will certainly take time. No deadline has yet to be announced.