{"id":5939,"date":"2016-04-28T22:43:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T22:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=4740"},"modified":"2016-04-28T22:43:26","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T22:43:26","slug":"mexican-presidents-reversal-on-marijuana-comes-after-surveys-show-growing-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/mexican-presidents-reversal-on-marijuana-comes-after-surveys-show-growing-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican President\u2019s Reversal On Marijuana Comes After Surveys Show Growing Support"},"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-presidents-reversal-on-marijuana-comes-after-surveys-show-growing-support\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Mexican President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto\u2019s announcement Thursday that he will send a bill to the Senate legalizing medical uses of marijuana and increasing the amount an individual may possess, is a dramatic turnaround and may be a response to public support for medical marijuana, analysts said.<\/p>\n<p>Individuals will be allowed to possess up to one ounce (28 grams) for personal use \u2013 up from 0.17 oz. (4.8 grams) previously \u2013 in an effort to \u201cdecriminalize\u201d marijuana consumption, Pe\u00f1a Nieto said. The reforms will also free people on trial or in jail for possession of up to one ounce, the Mexico City daily El Universal reported.<\/p>\n<p>Last December, Pe\u00f1a Nieto said he opposed relaxing the country\u2019s drug laws as a way of reducing the power of organized crime.<\/p>\n<p>He said at the time marijuana damages the health of children and adults and that he \u201cwould not put children\u2019s health at risk to fight organized crime,\u201d Bloomberg News reports.<\/p>\n<p>A recently published international study found that heavy pot users face as many midlife problems as those dependent on alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>The president\u2019s about face on marijuana may reflect the fact that 64 percent of Mexicans in a February survey said they support its use for medical purposes.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, 71 percent of respondents said they were opposed to legalizing marijuana for recreational use, Francisco Abundis, associate director of the polling firm Parametria, said in Mexico City.<\/p>\n<p>Abundis said Mexicans were watching the legalization of marijuana in some U.S. states and asking whether Mexico was paying too high a price in the war on drugs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy are we paying the price when the U.S. has legalized marijuana?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>There are approximately five million marijuana users in Mexico, according to security specialist and national university professor Raul Guillermo Benitez. A large public consensus in favor of legalizing it for medical purposes makes it \u201cpractically a fact\u201d in Mexico, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Current federal law prohibits the production, sale and possession of the drug, although having less than five grams is punishable with only a fine, notes Carlos Zamudio, an investigator with a citizens\u2019 group campaigning to change the drug laws.<\/p>\n<p>According to student surveys, usage among 12- to 20-year olds has ballooned by 50 percent in the past decade, Zamudio said.<\/p>\n<p>Organized crime is still the largest producer of marijuana in Mexico in spite of increasing production by smaller growers who are producing more potent strains in greenhouses and using specialized technology, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Pe\u00f1a Nieto\u2019s reversal on marijuana was made public in an address he delivered during the U.N. General Assembly\u2019s special session on drugs (UNGASS) in New York this week.<\/p>\n<p>Originally Pe\u00f1a Nieto said he would not attend UNGASS, a decision that drew heavy criticism, according to Edgar Cortez Morales of the Mexican human rights institute IMDHD.<\/p>\n<p>Morales said the president\u2019s stance on legalizing marijuana may have shifted as a result of public forums held in Mexico this year revealing strong support for medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>If Mexico does legalize possession it will violate several U.N. narcotics treaties and conventions to which it is a signatory.<\/p>\n<p>The treaties do not allow the regulation of marijuana for non-medical uses although, according to Martin Jelsma of the Transnational Institute, they do permit medical uses under certain conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Jalsma said Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay are among Latin American countries that are signatories to the treaties but have legalized medical marijuana. Meanwhile, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay have decriminalized possession of small amounts, and Uruguay has legalized limited production and consumption.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4741\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/mexican-presidents-reversal-on-marijuana-comes-after-surveys-show-growing-support.jpg\" alt=\"Mexican President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto\" width=\"737\" height=\"400\" \/>News Moderator: Robert Celt <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a><br \/>\nFull Article: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnsnews.com\/news\/article\/mark-browne\/mexican-presidents-reversal-marijuana-comes-after-surveys-show-growing\" target=\"_blank\">Mexican President\u2019s Reversal On Marijuana Comes After Surveys Show Growing Support<\/a><br \/>\nAuthor: Mark A. Browne<br \/>\nContact: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnsnews.com\/contact-us\" target=\"_blank\">cnsnews<\/a><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: None found<br \/>\nWebsite: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnsnews.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">cnsnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mexican President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto\u2019s announcement Thursday that he will send a bill to the Senate legalizing medical uses of&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/2016\/04\/mexican-presidents-reversal-marijuana-comes-surveys-show-growing-support\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1616,9,1,3],"tags":[4184],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5939"}],"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=5939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}