What used to be produced here, which went to both countries (Canada and the US), because now it is produced in these countries and the market is in those countries, then it ceased to be an enervating drug (marijuana) where it calls the importance (to ) criminal organizations”.
Luis Cresencio Sandoval, Secretary of National Defense.
The medicinal and recreational cannabis market in Mexico could be worth some 5 billion dollars annually if legislation on the matter is passed, estimated the National Association of the Cannabis Industry.
Estimates from the consulting firm Grand View Research, meanwhile, suggest that the medicinal and recreational cannabis market in the world would reach 70.6 billion dollars in 2028.
Grand View Research also anticipates that the legalization of recreational cannabis in Mexico could help with the illegal drug trade, which will allow the planning, regulation and implementation of strategies. It would also allow the government to obtain income through taxes on the sale of cannabis.
In this last item, an analysis by the Center for Studies and Public Finance of the Chamber of Deputies estimated that the marijuana market could leave some 18.705 million pesos a year to the federal government via taxes.
However, the discussion and analysis of the Federal Law for the Regulation of Cannabis has been stalled since last year in the Senate of the Republic.
“It is no longer if you want. The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) has already told them (Congress) that the use of marijuana cannot be prohibited (…) they have to legalize the recreational use of the plant”, said Pablo Girault Ruiz, counselor United Mexico against Crime.
Last summer, the SCJN approved the General Declaration of Unconstitutionality to invalidate five articles of the General Health Law that absolutely prohibited the recreational use of marijuana.
“The president is morally conservative and does not agree with the legalization of the plant. He doesn’t want this to happen. Congress, if they let him work freely, would vote for him in a second,” added Girault Ruiz.
More civil action is needed
Pedro Morales Cuervo, coordinator of the Mexican Cannabis Association, said that the approval of the law is not an issue that urges the federal Executive.
“If users, civil organizations, academics, businessmen, who are immersed in the cannabis industry can move their influences and raise their voices to incite change, because the government is not raising it urgently,” he commented.
Morales Cuervo added that those responsible for validating the cannabis law must be informed, since there are still many value judgments regarding responsible use.
“The use of substances is biased by moral thinking, it cannot be overlooked that the people in charge of regulating the law are carried away by moral judgments and not by facts. That is a disgrace,” Morales Cuervo pointed out.
Fewer seizures
In recent years, marijuana seizures by elements of the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) have been on the decline.
Last Thursday, the head of the Sedena, General Luis Cresencio Sandoval reported that since 2012, derived from the legalization of the drug for recreational purposes, in 44 entities of the United States and Canada, seizures have been on the decline.
“What used to be produced here, which went to both countries, because now it is produced in these countries and the market is in those countries, then it ceased to be an enervating factor calling the importance of (a) criminal organizations and because of that there is a migration (…) of these criminal organizations to the production of synthetic drugs”, he said.
According to data from the Army for 2017, 327,848 kilograms of marijuana were seized in Mexico, while for 2021 it was 66,153 kilos, that is, a drop of 79.8 percent. (With editorial information)
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