Top Mexican Senator Says Marijuana Legalization Bill Will Be Approved This Month

Sen. Julio Menchaca of the ruling MORENA party, who serves as president of the Justice Committee, said this week that legislation to legalize cannabis has “already circulated to the members” of key panels following “many exercises of open parliament.”

The Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that Mexico’s ban on the personal use and possession of marijuana is unconstitutional and it initially set a deadline of October 2019 to amend the policy. But while lawmakers came close to voting on a bill late last year that was approved by a series of committees, they requested a deadline extension at the last minute, and the court approved it.

Congress now has until the end of April to legalize cannabis, but Menchaca said “we hope to take it out in the Senate this month.”

“Prohibition has generated a lot of violence in the last 100 years,” he said, including fostering “the creation of an organized crime.”
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