Mexico’s Senate approves marijuana regulation

The commissions of Justice , Health , and Legislative Studies of Mexico’s Senate broadly approved the ruling that seeks to regulate cannabis .

During over two hours of discussion, senators from different parties generally approved, with 26 votes in favor, 7 against, and 8 abstentions, the document that proposes the regulation of cannabis from a medical , recreational , and industrial perspective.

Likewise, the ruling proposed the creation of a Law for the Regulation of Cannabis , as well as reforms and additions to several dispositions of the General Law on Health and the Federal Penal Code .

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Legislators from the National Action Party (PAN) , the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) , and Movimiento Ciudadano stressed that this approval does not mean that it has been endorsed by all parties but that now, specific points of the document must be reviewed and discussed in the plenary.

The ruling that was voted today in the Senate proposes, among other matters, for it to be allowed to own up to 28 grams of marijuana , not only five as currently, and for people who need it for health issues to be able to plant up to 20 plants by requesting a license from the Mexican Institute of Cannabis Regulation and Control .

During the deliberation, there were opposing positions in front of this kind of topic, for instance, senator Antares Vázquez (Morena) said that the regulation of cannabis “is not promoting its use but an attempt to regulate the black market ” that already exists in Mexico.

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Meanwhile, Damián Zepeda (PAN) was one of the legislators who were against the ruling by rejecting to enable the youth to acquire drugs , in addition to saying that the regulation of cannabis will not diminish violence .

For their part, PRI legislators abstained from voting because they said they are in favor of the regulation but that, according to them, the document that was voted needs modifications .

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