{"id":5439,"date":"2016-01-26T23:48:20","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T23:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/?p=46481"},"modified":"2016-01-26T23:48:20","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T23:48:20","slug":"top-official-hints-mexico-could-legalize-medical-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/top-official-hints-mexico-could-legalize-medical-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Official Hints Mexico Could Legalize Medical Marijuana"},"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\/top-official-hints-mexico-could-legalize-medical-marijuana\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>A growing number of developments point to the increasing possibility that Mexico could soon pass legislation allowing the medical use of marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There seems to be a majority opinion, even at international level, about its therapeutic benefits,&#8221;\u00a0Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, the country&#8217;s secretary of the interior, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reforma.com\/aplicacioneslibre\/preacceso\/articulo\/default.aspx?id=750819&amp;v=3&amp;urlredirect=http:\/\/www.reforma.com\/aplicaciones\/articulo\/default.aspx?Id=750819&amp;v=3\">said on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The high-ranking cabinet member <a href=\"http:\/\/www.globalpost.com\/article\/6725077\/2016\/01\/26\/mexico-opens-landmark-debate-marijuana-laws\">made the remarks<\/a> at the first of five government-hosted\u00a0regional forums\u00a0on marijuana issues.<\/p>\n<p>President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto is personally opposed to full legalization but has said he is open to debate on the topic.<\/p>\n<p>The new comments from Osorio Chong could be an indication that\u00a0the government sees legalizing medical cannabis as an acceptable middle ground between current policy and ending prohibition completely.<\/p>\n<p>Leaders in both chambers of Mexico&#8217;s Congress have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/blog\/news\/2016\/01\/mexican-senate-president-marijuana-law-reform-a-priority\/\">signaled<\/a> that they are <a href=\"http:\/\/latino.foxnews.com\/latino\/politics\/2016\/01\/25\/mexican-lawmakers-look-to-change-marijuana-policy\/\">open<\/a> to enacting marijuana law reforms this year.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">Earlier this month, the mayor of the nation\u2019s capital announced his support for legalization, saying it would deal a financial blow to drug cartels. \u201cMy position is always the defense of freedoms,\u201d said Miguel Angel Mancera, who is considered to be a likely candidate in the country\u2019s upcoming 2018 presidential election.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Mexico&#8217;s Congress is currently holding a series of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/blog\/news\/2015\/12\/mexicos-congress-announces-marijuana-legalization-debates-in-2016\/\">12 hearings<\/a> on marijuana policy that are expected to dig in to issues such as prison overcrowding, consumer health, public safety, human rights, medical uses of cannabis and ways to regulate production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A growing number of developments point to the increasing possibility that Mexico could soon pass legislation allowing the medical use of marijuana. &#8220;There seems to be a majority opinion, even at international level, about its therapeutic benefits,&#8221;\u00a0Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, the country&#8217;s secretary of the interior, said on Tuesday. The high-ranking cabinet member made the [&#8230;] <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2421,2433,2417,9,1,3],"tags":[2427,2434,2419],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5439"}],"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=5439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}