Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalizes recreational cannabis

Mexico’s highest court on Monday overturned the country’s laws against the use and personal cultivation of marijuana, more than five years after a limited verdict ruling unconstitutional bans on recreational cannabis. According to the court’s decision, all adults aged 18 and over can apply for a permit that allows them to own and grow small amounts of marijuana for personal use.

“This is a step forward for cannabis users’ rights,” said Zara Snapp, co-founder of the Instituto RIA think tank. “But there is still a lot to be done in Congress in order to be able to regulate the market in a socially just manner.”

In its 8-to-3 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that citizens can apply to the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris), the country’s health department, for permission to legally source cannabis. With the permit, adults can own up to 28 grams (approximately one ounce) of marijuana for personal use. The court also ruled that adults can apply for permission to grow and harvest small quantities of cannabis for personal use.

Those who are granted permission to own or grow marijuana would be required to refrain from using cannabis in the presence of children and not drive or engage in other potentially dangerous activities while under the influence of the drug.

The ban in Mexico was originally declared unconstitutional in 1995

The Mexican Supreme Court first ruled in 1995 that laws banning personal cannabis use were unconstitutional in a ruling that was limited to four people who had filed a complaint with the court. The decision found that such laws violate the “right to free development of personality” and are therefore unconstitutional. The court allowed the four members of the Mexican Society for Responsible and Tolerant Self-Consumption (Smart) activist group to grow, transport, and smoke recreational marijuana.

“If these are unconstitutional for us, they should be unconstitutional for the entire population,” said lawyer Francisco Torres Landa, one of the four successful petitioners in the case at the time. “Our long-term goal is for everything to be sorted out. None of us aspire to consumption being the real object, ”he added. “The aim is to make sure we lay the groundwork to challenge the real basis for the ban.”

In 2017, Mexico legalized cannabis products containing less than one percent THC for medicinal purposes. After the country’s courts received additional petitions from citizens who wanted to use cannabis for recreational use, the court ordered Mexican lawmakers to draft a law legalizing marijuana for adult use within 90 days. The deadline was later extended by the court to December 2020.

In March this year, the Mexican House of Commons passed a law to legalize recreational cannabis, but the measure has not yet been approved by the country’s Senate. The ongoing delay resulted in a Supreme Court ruling on Monday.

US cannabis endorses the decision

The reaction to the verdict from the north of the border was quick. Morgan Paxhia, co-founder and executive director of cannabis mutual fund Poseidon, says the court’s ruling is a “big win for the Mexican people,” noting that analysis by market data firm Headset in early 2021 predicts the nation would be the world’s largest Federally legal adult market and the second largest market overall after California.

“We see Mexico as an attractive investment opportunity given its local markets, but also as a potential contributor to the global cannabis markets,” Paxhia wrote in an email to the High Times. “Poseidon is already active in Mexico and is making its first investment in Grupo Landsteiner Scientific and is looking forward to a major market opening.”

Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) stated, “With these actions by the court, the United States has become a federal marijuana island in North America.”