Incoming Mexico government sends marijuana bill to Congress

Record ID: 1363484

  • Title: Incoming Mexico government sends marijuana bill to Congress
  • Date: 8th November 2018
  • Summary: SINALOA, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) SOLDIER IN HELICOPTER LOOKING OUT OVER AREA NEAR SUSPECTED MARIJUANA PLANTATION AERIAL VIEW OF SUSPECTED MARIJUANA PLANTATION SOLDIERS UPROOTING MARIJUANA PLANTS SOLDIERS HEAPING MARIJUANA PLANTS ON PILE FOR BURNING MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (FILE) (REUTERS) MAN USING MAKESHIFT BONG AT PROTEST FOR MARIJUANA LEGALISATION PEOPLE SITTING ON FLOOR FOR MARIJUANA PROTEST USER PREPARING MARIJUANA FOR JOINT USER SMOKING JOINT USERS AT MARIJUANA PROTEST USER SMOKING BONG AT PROTEST PEOPLE GATHERED FOR MARIJUANA PROTEST
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2018 21:38
  • Keywords: marijuana legalisation Mexico City Congress drugs President-Elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Senator Olga Sanchez violence
  • Location: MEXICO CITY, SINALOA, MEXICO
  • City: MEXICO CITY, SINALOA, MEXICO
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00295NCWUB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Mexico's next interior minister submitted a bill on Thursday (November 8) to create a medical marijuana industry and allow recreational use, part of a crime-fighting strategy that would make Mexico one of the world's most populous countries to legalise the drug.
    Senator Olga Sanchez, the designated interior minister of President-Elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said Mexico's cannabis ban contributes to violence and poverty, criticising a 12-year war on cartels that has left 235,000 people dead.
    Mexico would join Canada and Uruguay in allowing recreational marijuana use, as well as ten U.S. states.
    Mexico, a major supplier of illicit weed to the United States, has used military might to fight drug gangs since 2006. The groups have splintered into smaller factions battling over trafficking routes and territory.
    Lopez Obrador, a veteran leftist who takes office Dec. 1, has promised major changes to Mexico's war on drugs, suggesting a negotiated peace and amnesty for some of the very people currently targeted by security forces.
    The bill would permit companies to grow and commercialise marijuana. Individuals would also be allowed to cultivate plants for private use, as long as they register in an anonymous government listing and produce no more than 480 grams (1 lb) of marijuana per year. Smoking pot in public places would also be permitted.
    Cannabis producers would be banned from hiring minors or selling the drug to them.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register