The drug policy of the government of Andrãs©Manuel Lépez Obrador, or the lack thereof, was one of the critical points of this government. With little certainty about how the issue will be handled, the president on Thursday presented progress on “what has been done and is being done on drugs.” The presentation mixed seizure data with sobering content on the consequences of substance use. Thus, the official strategy of the last three years has been limited ± to intercepting shipments arriving in Mexico or circulating in the©national territory and, without reaching a conclusion, to discussing the possibility of legalizing drugs “in a non-destructive manner or with mild effects”. Drug policy in a country like Mexico©is of paramount importance because it completely influences security policy. The illicit manufacture of and trafficking in these substances is an integral part of the violent conflict that has left tens of thousands dead and missing ± in recent years. The struggle between the cartels leaves a trail of death every day throughout the country. In an effort to reduce the crime rate, the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) introduced a law regulating the production, sale and recreational use of cannabis before it came to power. “Overcoming the formalistic obstacles of the past is not an easy task, but I have full confidence that we can overcome them in this legislature,” said Olga©Sanchez Cordero, Speaker of the Upper House. Marijuana, mota or faso, are some of the names of the recreational drug related to cannabis. It is not legally accepted in most societies, although there is an emerging current for its legalization and consistent decriminalization. Uruguay was one of the pioneers on this path. This bloody story is the main motivation for the legalization of cannabis in Mexico.
Ultimately, this is a small but significant step toward reducing the war on drugs. “Mexico is of great importance given its size and global reputation for being harmed by the war on drugs,” said John Walsh, director of drug policy at the Washington Office for Latin America, a U.S. human rights group. “North America on the road to legalization” While Mexican cartels have reduced the production, trafficking and sale of marijuana, they have nearly doubled domestic production of methamphetamines, plain heroin, fentanyl-infused heroin and have steadily increased the purchase and trafficking of cocaine produced in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. For one simple reason: these drugs are a more profitable business when you compare the selling price with the costs of production, storage and transportation. And drug cartels, like any other type of commercial enterprise, aim for higher profits. Cannabis is not the most harmful or profitable drug for drug trafficking, but it is the most consumed drug on the planet with 192 million users and the one that causes the most problems with the law: it is responsible for more than half of drug-related crimes worldwide. according to the United Nations. In the last year of the ± of Lázaro Córdenas` six-year term, 1940, the Federal Ordinance on Drug Addiction came into force, which no longer punished the use, possession and sale of drugs, while the State monopolized the distribution of these substances. As I mentioned earlier, drug cartels are pragmatic and put economic interests first.
They will have the opportunity to play in two ways: on the one hand, they will continue to produce illegal marijuana, because because of their volume, the final selling price for the consumer will always be lower than that of small legally authorized producers. Mexican lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana, a milestone for the country that is at war with drugs and could become the world`s largest cannabis market, leaving the U.S. between two neighboring marijuana sellers. However, López Obrador`s approaches to cannabis were ambiguous and unpredictable. During his long political career, he has often declared his willingness to “debate” drug legalization, but has never explicitly committed to advancing it. Drug regulation is seen as a progressive response to the crackdown on psychoactive substance use by people over the age of 18, as well as a viable and less aggressive alternative to the results of the so-called war on drugs and its number of tens of thousands of people killed, missing and displaced by violence. The law, passed by the Senate in November 2020 and ratified by the Chamber of Deputies with brief amendments with 316 votes in favour, 129 against and 23 abstentions, allows anyone over the age of 18 to have a maximum of six cannabis plants for personal consumption at home. If more than two people consume at home, they can have up to eight plants of the drug.
No license is required for self-consumption, and it is sufficient to obtain only one permit per residence. López Obrador ran for president in 2018 as a progressive candidate who advocated for the “transformation” and “pacification” of the country and promised to rethink public drug policies. Supporters of marijuana legalization argue the bill is too limited, even though it represents a symbolic breakthrough in efforts to end a war on drugs that has claimed the lives of more than 150,000 people, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Despite the limitations of the initiative, the legalization of marijuana is a symbolic milestone of great significance for a country like Mexico, which is currently engaged in a bloody war on drugs. The paradigm of this prescription has ceased to view people with substance abuse problems as criminals and has placed them in the category of patients. Similarly, this new regulation led the State to monopolize the sale of drugs considered drugs, so that illegal trafficking continued to be prosecuted by law. The Minister of National Defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, is the one who presented this Thursday the results of the fight against drugs at the morning conference. According to the official report, the government has destroyed about 307,000 poppy plants and 53,000 marijuana plants so far during this six-year term. However, what worries the executive branch most are synthetic©drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine or fentanyl, which have gained momentum on a wave that is difficult to contain and have more serious health consequences than natural ones. In the past three years, ± the government has dismantled 127 labs that illegally produced methamphetamine and heroin, according to the report. In Sinaloa alone, about 54 were found.
They found 19 in Michoacán and 14 in Jalisco. López Obrador has largely continued the war on drugs waged by his predecessors. In 2006, then-President Felipe Calderón deployed the armed forces to combat drug trafficking. The endemic violence resulting from clashes between the military and cartels has increasingly led to the perception of every citizen, including drug addicts, as a latent threat. The legislative initiative also gives authorities the power to access the homes of cannabis producers without the need for a court order to verify compliance with the law. This has a potentially chilling effect in terms of registering those who are currently illegally growing the drug at home, as they might prefer the peace of mind offered by secrecy to possible inspections that interfere with their privacy.