How the Mexican Supreme Court's Vote to Nullify Cannabis Prohibition Can Help American Legalization Efforts
A few years ago the world took notice when the Mexican Supreme Court voted that “cannabis prohibition was a violation of the Mexican Constitution”.
Why?
Because unlike many of the other places that legalize cannabis, very few of them made it a constitutional right. In Mexico, the constitution is actually one of the most “liberal” in terms of individual freedoms.
Unlike the US Constitution, the Mexican Constitution has a section in it that gives every Mexican a constitutional right to “develop their personality” as they see fit.
In other words, the government cannot tell you how you should express yourself when it comes to matters of personality and self-identity.
And so, a bunch of smart lawyers initiated a few legal procedures where they requested “legal protections” from being prosecuted by the law for growing and consuming cannabis arguing that the culture of cannabis is part of their “personality”.
The Supreme Court Agreed, and after five times voting in favor of these kinds of “amparos”, the Mexican law is clear that a constitutional amendment needs to happen.
This declaration of unconstitutionality of the law happened in 2019, and the Supreme Court ordered lawmakers to create the legal framework for cannabis regulation, cultivation, etc.
The lawmakers failed to meet the first deadline, and then the next, and then the next and for the past two years have not been able to flesh out the details of “legal cannabis” in Mexico.
The Supreme Court gave plenty of extensions, but on Monday – June 28th, 2021 – the Supreme Court will once more discuss whether or not they end the prohibition of cannabis in Mexico or whether they’ll grant some more time for lawmakers to finish the regulations.
What happens if the Mexican Supreme Court votes to end prohibition?
If eight of the twelve supreme court justices vote to abolish the prohibition of cannabis, it becomes a constitutional right for any Mexican – irrespective of age.
It would essentially render all laws against cannabis unconstitutional, meaning that there would be no legal weight behind cannabis laws.
As you can imagine, this would create a whole world of irregularities within the marketplace.
Firstly, there would be “no law” meaning that there also would be no protections. Law enforcement would technically still be able to harass people and extort them for money (something that is quite common in Mexico) over their use of cannabis.
However, in the same vein, all forms of cannabis would in fact be a constitutionally protected activity. This means that there would be no limit to how many plants one could grow at their home, whether or not they would be able to sell and so forth.
While the Supreme Court doesn’t want to create a lawless system within cannabis – they are forced to act by their own decree.
They have given several extensions to the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, yet due to the constant refining of the laws – lawmakers could not reach a conclusion.
This is forcing the Supreme Court to simply end prohibition legally, leaving everyone in a “wild-west” scenario.
What happens in an unregulated Mexico?
It wouldn’t stay unregulated for long. If the Supreme Court does vote to abolish cannabis prohibition, lawmakers would still be charged with coming up with a system – except, every day they stall now would mean that unregulated activities can flourish.
This means that as a response, lawmakers could quickly pass a resolution that may not be optimal. After all, the reason for stalling – according to lawmakers – was to create a fair and well-regulated cannabis market while being able to respect the rights of indigenous farmers & communities of low resources.
Lawmakers are almost in agreement with their current plan, however activists took issue with several provisions – specifically needing to register at the “national center of addictions” to get a permit to grow cannabis.
This is in direct violation of “constitutional rights”. After all, your freedom of speech doesn’t require that you “register at the department of propaganda” to be able to use your full rights. A Constitutional right guarantees certain rights – and by registering to exercise for a right, you immediately turn it into a “privilege” and not a right.
However, this is but one of the issues that activists have seen.
Others include the treatment of minority communities, ensuring that there are fair practices within the marketplace, health regulations, vertical integration and a slew of other issues.
What happens now?
Monday, June 28th, 2021 could be the day that Mexico in fact abolishes prohibition from their books. While this would not allow the legal market to flourish, not importation or exportation of goods to happen – it would be a major victory for activists around the world.
Knowing that there is one country where the act of consuming cannabis is a constitutionally protected right – should give other countries the blueprint for legalization.
Of course, the Mexican Constitution is one of the most “freedom granting constitutions” in the world. You wouldn’t think it is so due to how the government operates, but the truth of the matter is that not even in the US you have a “right to exercise your personality”.
Certainly, this is a given within the US constitution, but the Mexican document has it written explicitly in the constitution. This makes it an actual point of contention and was the very mechanism that savvy activists used to circumvent prohibition. Recently, US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas blased the US Federal government's legal marijuana policy and that change needs to happen.
What comes next is world will wait until the Supreme Court deliberates and passes their judgement. If the Supreme Court votes to end prohibition, lawmakers will probably scramble to pass legislation really quickly.
If the Supreme Court grants another extension, we can maybe see a functional cannabis system come to light somewhere in September.
I for one hope the Supreme Court simply abolishes cannabis prohibition. We need to set a legal precedent on the fact that cannabis is a human right - the right of freedom of choice.
UPDATE:
I was about to submit this piece to the editor when the news came out that the Mexican Supreme Court indeed did vote to Nullify Cannabis prohibition in Mexico.
Now, the Secretary of Health must issue permits for cultivation, but officially, on June 28th – 2021, Mexican prohibition of cannabis consumption officially ended.
MORE ON MEXICO'S SUPREME COURT, READ THESE...
THE MEXICAN SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN CANANBIS PROHIBITION!
OR..
