Mexico Supreme Court removes ban on recreational marijuana

Criminal penalties of carrying more than five grams of marijuana remains intact

A woman shows a marijuana bud during a sit-in organised by the Mexican Cannabis Movement ‘Planton 420’ outside the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), in Mexico City, Mexico, 28 June 2021 (EPA)

Mexico’s Supreme Court has removed the country’s prohibition against the private use of recreational marijuana by calling the current laws unconstitutional.

The court ruled on Monday that adults would be able to apply for permits to cultivate their own cannabis for personal consumption with some restrictions intact on smoking in public or in front of children.

With an 8-3 decision, the court struck down the sections of the country’s laws that prohibited growing a pot plant and its consumption, a decision called “historic” for liberties by Supreme Court president Arturo Zaldívar.

This comes as the latest step in Mexico’s path of becoming one of the largest countries to regulate marijuana usage by the public, years after the apex court ordered Congress to change the laws banning cannabis.

The bill legalising recreational marijuana remained stalled in Congress even as the court issued 30 April deadline to pass a law.

Before Monday’s ruling by the court, adults could approach courts to seek permission to grow and consume cannabis since 2015. The court in 2017 ordered Congress to draft laws to create a legal cannabis market.

In March, Mexico’s lower house passed the bill legalising cannabis for recreational use but it remained stalled in the Senate for final approval. The negotiations fell apart after a disagreement over the details of the law.

The bill, if approved, would establish a system of licenses for the entire chain of production, distribution, transformation and sales of marijuana. It will allow users with a permit to possess up to 28 gram and grow up to eight plants at home for personal use.

Supporters of the law say that the regulation will remove the marijuana market from the grips of Mexico’s powerful drug cartels.

But some have shown skepticism that the ruling was unlikely to lead to major immediate changes as the health secretariat could still impose hurdles in the application process.