Baja California governor says she is “completely behind schedule” on medical cannabis

The leader of Mexico’s Baja California state last week offered a full-bodied endorsement of medicinal cannabis as the debate over the issue continues to irk the country’s lawmakers.

Marina del Pilar Avila, who serves as governor of Baja California, told reporters that she is “completely behind the legalization of marijuana as a treatment for chronic diseases,” as quoted by the Border Report news agency.

As the outlet noted, “the Mexican Senate is currently debating legalizing the widespread use of marijuana in Mexico.”

But Avila’s endorsement of the treatment isn’t shared by other leaders in Baja California.

Norma Bustamante, the mayor of Mexicali, the capital of Baja California, almost immediately “spoke out against Avila’s testimony,” according to the Border Report.

“As a civil servant, I always respect the law, and as a wife, mother and grandmother of teenagers, I am against the use of drugs, including marijuana and even cigarettes,” Bustamante said, as quoted by Border Report.

Adrián Medina Amarillas, who serves as Baja California’s health minister, disagrees.

“If the country allows the use of medical marijuana, we will be among the first to use it to treat chronic diseases that are unresponsive to conventional treatments, including cancer and Parkinson’s disease,” Medina said, as quoted by the outlet.

Long a robust producer and exporter of cannabis, Mexico’s marijuana laws have been riddled with ambiguity. As Leafly puts it, “It’s complicated.”

“Marijuana currently exists in one legal river state in Mexico. It’s not entirely legal, but it’s not entirely illegal either,” Leafly explains. “Medical cannabis is technically legal in Mexico, but there is no legal framework for obtaining a prescription or proving one’s legal medical status. Possession of up to 5 grams of cannabis for medicinal or other purposes has been effectively decriminalized nationwide, although local and federal police often fail to respect that status.”

As for recreational cannabis, “possession of up to 5 grams of cannabis is virtually legal because it was federally decriminalized in 2009, along with limited quantities of a number of other drugs, in an effort by authorities to free up resources and public health issues from circulation.” separate crime.”

“People found with less than 5 grams of cannabis should by law be encouraged into free treatment programmes, but in reality they are still being forced to pay bribes to the police in order to be released from custody. They are not generally prosecuted for personal amounts, although the law states that purchasing and possessing amounts greater than 5 grams is punishable by 10 months to 3 years in prison,” Leafly explains.

The uncertainty surrounding this policy has prompted advocates and lawmakers to call for comprehensive cannabis reform.

In August, Olga Sánchez Cordero, president of the Senate Bureau, “pushed for the approval of cannabis regulatory reform, believing that Mexico is lagging behind Latin America and the world on this matter,” according to Mexican news magazine Processo.

The magazine reported that in her inaugural address, Sánchez Cordero “recounted that Senator Margarita Valdez, president of the House of Lords Health Committee, held a meeting where representatives from Latin American countries asked her why Mexico doesn’t regulate everything related to marijuana use. “

“Now, Senator Margarita Valdez told me that all of our South American, Chilean, Argentinian and Colombian brothers at a meeting asked her, in short, when Mexico would take this important step in regulating cannabis. In my opinion, and I tell you this with all sincerity, I believe that if we don’t make progress on this issue, we will fall behind the world,” Proceso quoted Sánchez Cordero as saying.

In addition, the outlet reported that it “mentioned other relevant issues on the legislative agenda that will be discussed during the next regular session, which will be held on April 1 on energy and the protection of migrants’ human rights.”

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