Mexico moves towards legalising cannabis
End of prohibition is a big step in a country on the frontline of the drug wars
Friday, December 28, 2018
Olga Sánchez Cordero, interior minister in Mexico’s new leftist nationalist government, has submitted a bill to Congress to end prohibition and start regulation. Since the ruling party controls Congress, the bill is unlikely to run into trouble; indeed, it is expected to be passed within weeks. Mexico will be the third country in the world to make marijuana cultivation and consumption legal. Latin America’s second-largest economy, which briefly legalised all drugs in 1940, will follow in the footsteps of Uruguay and Canada, as well as more than 30 US states where cannabis has been legalised for medicinal or recreational use or both. The big difference is that, unlike Mexico, none of the other places is a major producer of illegal drugs.