Marijuana Legalization rushed by activists in Mexico

Activists demand the Senate to proceed with legalization asap.

MEXICO CITY (Times Media Mexico) – On Sunday, July 19th, activists demanded that the Senate include the legalization of recreational cannabis in the next special session that begins July 29.

As a sit-in, the Mexican Cannabis Movement accused the Senate of possible contempt for the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), which set Dec. 15 as the deadline for Congress to legalize marijuana, considering that its prohibition is unconstitutional. “We see a constant delay, a delay in this legislation, now there is already one more extension, until Dec. 15, and there is a senator who wants to postpone the ruling even more under the excuse of the COVID-19 pandemic,” denounced Leopoldo Rivera, coordinator of the movement.

The activists are holding a demonstration in front of the Senate, in downtown Mexico City, where they planted 420 marihuana plants of up to 2.5 meters tall.

With this miniature plantation, considered the first to not be clandestine in Mexico, activists are putting pressure on the Senate for a law with four characteristics: free personal or associated cultivation, simple free possession, dignified treatment, and public spaces for safe, responsible and regulated consumption.

“We decided to start this movement of planting weed, and planting ourselves as citizens, as users of cannabis and as responsible citizens against a law that clearly does not do justice, that clearly criminalizes, that is clearly useless,” Rivera said.

In March, the Senate discussed a ruling for a marijuana regulation law that would allow people to possess up to 28 grams of this drug, avoid criminalizing its cultivation and its use for medical purposes. However, activists have argued that it does not comply with the SCJN and favors the interests of private companies.

“We’ve been here more than five months and only four senators have come down. Who do they legislate for? What they are proposing is a cosmetic change, which is not going to solve the problems of unconstitutionality pointed out by the Supreme Court,” said Pepe Rivera.

“No More Extensions”
Activist Pepe Rivera demanded that the Supreme Court not to grant any more extensions to the Mexican Senate.

“The police are mistreating the people, they are mistreating the citizens, they arrest them even when they are not consumers to extort them, to deprive them of their freedom and that goes against the Mexican constitution,” said Pepe at the protest of the Mexican Cannabic Movement.