Vote in Mexico brings world's largest legal weed market one step closer (updated)

Medical Marijuana

20/11/2020 24:52

(Adds details on the vote and legislation, background)
    MEXICO CITY, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Mexico's Senate approved a
landmark cannabis legalization bill in a landslide vote on
Thursday, paving the way for the creation of the world's largest
legal marijuana market if the initiative passes the next hurdle
in the lower house of Congress.
    Senators voted 82 to 18 to approve the measure, with seven
abstentions.
    Lawmakers are rushing to secure final approval before the
end of the current congressional session in December. If
enacted, the reform would mark a major shift in a country where
drug cartel violence in recent years has claimed over 100,000
lives.
    The Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that recreational marijuana
should be permitted, just one year after lawmakers legalized it
for medicinal use. 
    Socially conservative President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
has shied away from publicly backing the legalization push, but
neither has he opposed it, and senior cabinet members like
Interior Minister Olga Sanchez have openly called for a shift to
legalization and regulation.
    Lopez Obrador's left-of-center Morena party, which backed
the initiative, holds a majority in both chambers of Congress
with its allies.
    The bill aims to "improve living conditions" and "contribute
to the reduction of crime linked to drug trafficking," according
to its text.
    Weed companies have expressed interest in a future Mexican
legal market, including Canada's Canopy Growth  WEED.TO  and The
Green Organic Dutchman  TGOD.TO , as well as a unit of
California-based Medical Marijuana Inc  MJNA.PK .  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2GE6JM
    The legislation would let users carry up to 28 grams and
grow as many as four plants at home.
    Sales to adults in authorized businesses would be allowed,
provided the product abides by maximum levels of psychoactive
ingredients.
    Children would be prohibited from using the drug or any
involvement in its cultivation and sales, and driving while high
would be illegal.

 (Reporting by David Alire Garcia and Adriana Barrera; Editing
by Daina Beth Solomon and Rosalba O'Brien)
 ((david.aliregarcia@thomsonreuters.com; +52 55 5282 7151;
Reuters Messaging:
david.aliregarcia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))