Mexico’s Supreme Court voted on Monday to end marijuana criminalization. This follows lawmakers failing to pass a legalization bill by their third deadline after nearly three years since the high court ruled marijuana prohibition unconstitutional.
In 2018 the court ordered the legislature to enact a policy change. While both chambers of Congress advanced reform legislation in differing forms, they could not fulfill the court’s orders on time. In this case, they even had three extensions to the deadline.
Following the 8-3 vote, marijuana possession and cultivation for personal use will be legal nationally. The Ministry of Health will still have some regulatory authority for permitting personal cultivation, but people do not have to submit requests for legal protections anymore.
Adults who wish to cultivate and consume their own cannabis can apply for permits from the Health secretariat. However, criminal penalties will remain in place for anyone who possesses more than five grams of marijuana. Criminal penalties will also stay for those who attempt to sell cannabis.
Before Mexico’s Supreme Court decided on Monday, adults could petition the court for individual injunctions to grow and consume cannabis. Mexico’s Supreme Court began granting requests in 2015. After granting more and more injunctions, the court declared jurisprudence (theatrical study of law) on the issue. Finally, the court ordered Congress to draft regulations for a legal marijuana market.
Developing a Legal Marijuana Market
Activists say this decision leaves a “legal vacuum” until lawmakers pass a stalled legalization bill. They want to ensure that the market follows equitable practices, addresses the harms of criminalization on communities, and promotes personal freedom.
Lawmakers came close to passing a recreational marijuana legalization bill over the past three years — but ultimately failed to finish the job.
The Senate approved a legalization bill late in 2020, and the Chamber of Deputies revised and passed the bill in March. Then, they sent it back to the original chamber, and a few Senate committees took up and cleared the amended measure. After that, however, leaders started signaling that some revisions made the proposal unworkable.
The standstill is where the measure sat for weeks as the final deadline approached. Many officials thought the Senate would ask for another extension from the court, but that never happened. Instead, lawmakers talked about holding a special session to get the measure completed this year.
“This [Supreme Court’s decision] is probably what the present government was looking for,” says Raúl Bejarano, a graduate student studying cannabis regulation. “It exempts them from their responsibility of creating a regulated market.”
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