The lower house of the Congress of Mexico voted to decriminalize use of marijuana for recreational, medical and scientific purposes, a move that could deal a major blow to the drug cartels in the country, Reuters reports.
The legalization of marijuana would make Mexico the largest legal market for pot in the world, opening opportunities for cannabis growers who currently fear both police and drug gangs. The measure would defund a major source of income for the criminal cartels.
The bill passed the lower house 316-127, and it now must pass the Mexican Senate. It is endorsed by the president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. It provides for five various types of licenses within the marijuana law: cultivation, transformation, sale, research and export or import of marijuana. Only people the age of 18 or over would be able to legally buy or possess marijuana.
“Today we are making history,” said Simey Olvera, a lawmaker from Lopez Obrador’s ruling Morena party who was wearing a mask with marijuana leaves printed on it. “With this, the false belief that cannabis forms part of Mexico’s serious health problems is left behind.”
Canada decriminalized the recreational use of marijuana in 2018. Uruguay was the first nation in the Western Hemisphere to legalize marijuana in modern times when they passed a law in 2013.