When Mexico legalized medical marijuana in June 2017, few ever imagined that the country would legalize marijuana for adult-use a couple of years later. Drug cartels have so much influence in the country that one would be led to believe that those cartels would never allow any policy that threatens their illicit business to be passed. However, the tide has turned and according to reports coming from across the border, a legal framework for the legalization of recreational cannabis will be in place by October this year.
If that plan comes to pass, Mexico will be the third country in the world to commercialize recreational marijuana after Uruguay paved the way and Canada followed suit on October 17, 2018.
The legalization of adult-use marijuana now seems to be a logical step if you consider a number of factors.
First, the hand of the legislators has been forced by the judiciary after the Supreme Court made its fifth ruling to the effect that criminalizing recreational marijuana for adults was unconstitutional.
According to Mexican law, once the Supreme Court makes five similar rulings on a matter, then all courts are obliged to take the same position on that issue. This, in effect, means that the Supreme Court indirectly “legalized” recreational marijuana and it is now up to the lawmakers to pass a law to regulate recreational marijuana in the country.
Additionally, the Supreme Court gave the government an October 2019 deadline by which an appropriate law should have been passed to regulate recreational cannabis.
Opinion polls also indicate that an overwhelming 80 percent of all Mexicans favor cannabis legalization. This is a huge tide to ignore!
The lawmakers in Mexico now plan to use their legislative recess (May 1 to August 31) to draft a law to operationalize the ruling of the highest court in the land.
Once the recess ends, the legislators will have approximately one month to debate and pass the law so that the deadline given by the Supreme Court isn’t missed.
If the bill is enacted, Mexico is likely to be a force to reckon with in the cannabis industry. Currently, Canada is seen as the dominant force, but Mexico may upstage it given the huge population difference between the two countries. Canada has approximately 37 million people while Mexico has approximately 130 million people.
The Mexican population offers a huge market for recreational cannabis, and that market will be an irresistible magnet to foreign cannabis companies eager to get a slice of that pie.
Generation Alpha Inc. (OTCQB: GNAL) and Earth Science Tech Inc. (OTCQB: ETST) hope that the legalization of marijuana in Mexico will mark the turning point for the suffering that has been visited upon the people by drug cartels in the country.
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