{"id":5405,"date":"2016-01-19T23:24:21","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T23:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/?p=46311"},"modified":"2016-01-19T23:24:21","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T23:24:21","slug":"mexican-senate-president-marijuana-law-reform-a-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/mexican-senate-president-marijuana-law-reform-a-priority\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican Senate President: Marijuana Law Reform a Priority"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/mexican-senate-president-marijuana-law-reform-a-priority\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Mexico&#8217;s Senate president says passing marijuana\u00a0reform bills into law will be a priority in the new Congressional session starting next month.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mensajepolitico.com\/mando-unico-mariguana-tpp-y-carceles-prioridades-del-senado-gil-zuarth\/\">According to reports<\/a>,\u00a0Roberto Gil Zuarth told journalists\u00a0at a\u00a0briefing that he expects his colleagues to enact\u00a0legislation allowing the use of cannabis\u00a0for medical purposes.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate leader\u00a0is also\u00a0optimistic about setting up mechanisms that could lead to the early release of people currently incarcerated for possessing small amounts of the drug, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reforma.com\/aplicacioneslibre\/preacceso\/articulo\/default.aspx?id=744681\">Reforma reported,<\/a>\u00a0but he thinks\u00a0it will take more time for the legislature to form a consensus and deal with the issue of legalizing marijuana altogether.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">&#8220;We are looking for the best model, based on experiences such as the one from Uruguay or entities of the U.S. such as Colorado, without implying that we will be importing one,&#8221; Zuarth <a href=\"http:\/\/mensajepolitico.com\/mando-unico-mariguana-tpp-y-carceles-prioridades-del-senado-gil-zuarth\/\">said<\/a>. &#8220;We have to consider specific issues such as corruption in order to legislate on the matter.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">The comments come just days\u00a0before Mexico&#8217;s Congress begins a <\/span><a style=\"line-height: 1.5\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/blog\/news\/2015\/12\/mexicos-congress-announces-marijuana-legalization-debates-in-2016\/\">series of 12 debate sessions<\/a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\"> on marijuana policy that are\u00a0expected\u00a0to dig in to issues such as prison overcrowding, consumer health, public safety, human rights,\u00a0medical uses of cannabis and ways to regulate production.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Separately next week,\u00a0Mexican\u00a0President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto&#8217;s administration<span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">\u00a0is launching\u00a0a series of <\/span><a style=\"line-height: 1.5\" href=\"http:\/\/eleconomista.com.mx\/sociedad\/2016\/01\/12\/cancun-sede-primer-debate-sobre-marihuana\">five regional public forums<\/a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">\u00a0on marijuana issues.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The government also created\u00a0a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gob.mx\/debatemarihuana\">website<\/a>\u00a0to organize information about marijuana policies. It\u00a0includes an interactive map exploring cannabis laws\u00a0around the world.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-46316\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-19-at-3.33.55-PM-1024x492.png?a8203f\" alt=\"Mexican Government Marijuana Map\" width=\"702\" height=\"337\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In November, Mexico\u2019s Supreme Court ruled that individuals have a right to grow and distribute marijuana for personal use. While that case only currently applies to the four individuals who brought it, the right to cultivate and consume cannabis would become binding nationwide if the court ruled similarly a handful of additional times.<\/p>\n<p>Marijuana policy reform is increasingly gaining traction across\u00a0Mexico&#8217;s\u00a0political scene. Earlier this month, the mayor of the nation&#8217;s capital <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/blog\/news\/2016\/01\/mexico-city-mayor-legal-marijuana-would-hurt-cartels-is-issue-of-freedom\/\">announced his support<\/a> for legalization, saying it would deal a financial blow to drug cartels. &#8220;My position is always the defense of freedoms,&#8221; said\u00a0Miguel Angel Mancera, who is considered to be a likely candidate in the country&#8217;s upcoming 2018 presidential election.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in North America, the Canadian\u00a0government is preparing\u00a0to end cannabis\u00a0prohibition, which was a campaign pledge of new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. And in the U.S., at least five states are expected to vote on legalizing marijuana this November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mexico&#8217;s Senate president says passing marijuana\u00a0reform bills into law will be a priority in the new Congressional session starting next month. According to reports,\u00a0Roberto Gil Zuarth told journalists\u00a0at a\u00a0briefing that he expects his colleagues to enact\u00a0legislation allowing the use of cannabis\u00a0for medical purposes. The Senate leader\u00a0is also\u00a0optimistic about setting up mechanisms that could lead to [&#8230;] <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2433,2417,9,1,3],"tags":[2434,2419],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5405"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}