Mexico's Secret Wish For The California Weed Vote In November

Mexico Paying Close Attention to November California Cannabis Vote and How it will impact US cannabis if they legalize

A few years back I wrote an article talking about Mexico’s cannabis legalization movement and within the article I pointed out that “when California goes legal, Mexico would soon follow”. I can’t remember exactly which publication it was for seeing that I have written over 5,000 article on the subject matter over the years.

Recently, my “cannabis prophecy” seemed to be hitting the proverbial nail right on the head. According to Reuters, Enrique Peña Nieto, the current and detested President of Mexico is closely following what California is doing with their cannabis laws. He privately met with a few Californian Lawmakers and inquired about what was going on in the state.

There is a reason why Mexico is so interested in what happens in California this November and within the next article I’ll attempt to make some sense for our readers and tell you about what this could mean for the United States if Mexico legalizes.

So let’s take a trip down Memory Lane.

Mexico and Cannabis

For a while now cannabis consumption has been decriminalized in Mexico. If you’re caught with five grams or less, you won’t go to jail however you might have to pay a bribe to the arresting officer since they could give two shits about the decriminalization of the plant. In fact, it’s not just cannabis that is decriminalized. In Mexico, you can have certain amounts of cocaine, heroin, Meth, ecstasy and so forth without ever seeing jail time. Obviously, very small amounts. If you’re running around with a pound of cocaine, trust me…you’ll see the inside of a jail cell.

Prior to 2006, Mexico was pretty lenient on drug use. I remember being there in the 2000s and felt like we were living in the second coming of the 60s. Imported suitcases filled with drugs from Amsterdam was common, drugs were cheap and pure.

Then Calderon, the former president of Mexico stepped in and implemented the “American Model” known commonly as the “War on Drugs” and shit got serious. Suddenly, the streets became violent. Cartels moved in on territories and bloodshed ensued.

Over 100,000 people were murdered, some guilty but many innocent, and another 100,000 “disappeared”. We don’t know the exact statistics since Mexico isn’t too keen about sharing that information however based on several estimations, we can say that nearly a quarter million people either died or disappeared due to the drug war over the past ten years.

Everything was going according to the warmongering plans of politicians until….

Colorado and Washington Legalizes cannabis

In 2012, Colorado and Washington gave the ultimate “up yours” to the government and legalized cannabis for adult use. This didn’t sit well with a drug-war-torn Mexico as it becomes a hypocritical notion to fight a war that is already lost in the country that initiated the war.

These actions eventually inspired a group of five lawyers to obtain the only permits in Mexico to grow weed constitutionally. In Mexico, unlike in the United States, the right to express your personality is constitutionally protected.

The Supreme Court in Mexico allowed these lawyers to continue to grow without the fear of going to jail under this constitutional right.

The Supreme Court also halted the process for the rest of the public (or at least tried since you can technically follow suit of the lawyer group and obtain your constitutional protections), however, shortly afterwards propositions for a full scale legalization of the plan was submitted to lawmakers.

Nothing has happened yet on that front, but the fact that the current President of Mexico is looking into California’s cannabis laws, gives us an indication that something is cooking in the kitchen.

Why is California the deciding state?

California is important not only in Mexico, but in the United States as a whole. However, let’s first look at the significance of California to Mexico.

California shares a large border with the Mexico. Apart from Nevada, California is also a common route for drug traffickers to get their drugs into the United States. While the legality of cannabis in the United States have decreased the value of Mexican weed, there is still a lot of movement across the borders.

The problem for Mexico if California legalizes is a reversal of trade. Superior cannabis from California will make its way into Mexico. This is already happening, however if the state legalizes cannabis as a whole, the reversal will be far greater.

In Mexico City, you can buy a pound of Cali grown for roughly $16,000 pesos or roughly $800-$1000 per pound. California legalizes, we can see a greater influx of importation happening.

California’s legalization will pretty much make the weed game irrelevant for drug cartels and Mexico will be sending its money up north, which will be bad business for Mexico.

The only way to truly counteract this policy would be to legalize in Mexico, which I mentioned previously, is already on the books.

What will it mean for the US if Mexico legalizes?

If Mexico legalizes, the quality of cannabis will drastically increase since Mexico will probably follow the Californian model of legalization. This means new tech will be introduced into cultivation processes and the science of cannabis will go into full effect.

More importantly, American cannabis companies will have the opportunity to invest into grows in Mexico for export. This will directly influence the price per pound in the United States, as the cultivation in Mexico will be far cheaper.

Companies will be able to buy bulk weed from Mexico, process it in the states and sell it back to Mexico and the rest of the US. This will become the first legal international trade route of cannabis in the world and the game will be forever changed after that.

Then, Canada is set to legalize in 2017. Under the assumption that Canada, The US West Coast and Mexico all have legal cannabis markets, we will see a dramatic change all over the world. The Cannabis industry could finally be legitimized on an international scale.