Mexican Senate set to pass bill to legalize marijuana in next few days

[Suzanimal]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s Senate will vote for a bill to fully legalize marijuana in the next few days, a key lawmaker told Reuters, marking a major step toward changing the country’s approach to the drug by removing it as a source of income for violent drug gangs.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a leftist critic of Mexico’s longstanding drug war, has since last year signaled his openness to the decriminalization of marijuana as part of a broader shift on security policy.

Sen. Ricardo Monreal, the leader of Lopez Obrador’s MORENA party in the upper chamber of Congress, said in an interview late on Monday that a vote on the proposal will take place later this week or next week.

“The end of the prohibitionist policy is good for the country,” he said, adding that the bill would regulate personal use and sale of marijuana as well as research into the plant. It also contemplates creation of cooperatives that would grow marijuana plus a new regulatory agency.

If approved by the Senate, the proposal would then proceed to the lower house for a vote.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...rce=reddit.com

[jkr]

2L8

[DiverseSegregation]

I am not in the know but I would assume that most people in the US are not smoking pot grown in Mexican fields these days.

[Dr.3D]

“The end of the prohibitionist policy is good for the country,” he said, adding that the bill would regulate personal use and sale of marijuana as well as research into the plant. It also contemplates creation of cooperatives that would grow marijuana plus a new regulatory agency.

So if lettuce was illegal and then suddenly they decided to make it legal and regulate personal use and sales of lettuce, people are going to stop buying the cheaper unregulated lettuce?

[dannno]

So if lettuce was illegal and then suddenly they decided to make it legal and regulate personal use and sales of lettuce, people are going to stop buying the cheaper unregulated lettuce?

If lettuce was illegal and you had to buy it on the underground market, there would be a huge risk to growing and selling lettuce and it would be very expensive. Probably at least ten times the cost that it is currently.

Legalizing lettuce would allow the price to come down.

Cannabis is highly regulated and taxed in my state, but the quality has gone up and the costs have still come down.

[Dr.3D]

If lettuce was illegal and you had to buy it on the underground market, there would be a huge risk to growing and selling lettuce and it would be very expensive. Probably at least ten times the cost that it is currently.

Legalizing lettuce would allow the price to come down.

Cannabis is highly regulated and taxed in my state, but the quality has gone up and the costs have still come down.

Looks like the state is screwing up big time. They need to make everything illegal and then make it legal and regulate it.
The quality of everything would improve and the state would make lots of money in taxes.

[Anti Globalist]

I would much rather see marijuana decriminalized rather than legalized.

[dannno]

I would much rather see marijuana decriminalized rather than legalized.

Depends on your definition of decriminalize.

Decriminalizing includes making it a $100 fine to possess, with no criminal charges. But you can be charged a felony for growing or selling it. Still "decriminalized"

In that case, legalizing would be a lot better because there would be no fine to possess and there are legal ways to grow and sell.

[Dr.3D]

Depends on your definition of decriminalize.

Decriminalizing includes making it a $100 fine to possess, with no criminal charges. But you can be charged a felony for growing or selling it. Still "decriminalized"

In that case, legalizing would be a lot better because there would be no fine to possess and there are legal ways to grow and sell.

How about just making it like carrots?
Nothing to keep people from growing, selling or eating them.

[Suzanimal]

How about just making it like carrots?
Nothing to keep people from growing, selling or eating them.

You still have to pay taxes on the carrots you sell...

[AngryCanadian]

This wont change the crime rates. Even if Western Countries jump into by legalizing marijuana it wont change the drug crimes.

[Slave Mentality]

Dang it. Forgot I am done going round and round for a while posting on RPFs. You either get liberty or you don't. Not much to discuss anymore.

[Voluntarist]

Per registered decision, member has been banned for violating community standards as interpreted by TheTexan (respect his authoritah) as authorized by Brian4Liberty Ruling

May God have mercy on his atheist, police-hating, non-voting, anarchist soul.

[oyarde]

You still have to pay taxes on the carrots you sell...

Not here , no tax on food . Buy yer tax free carrots from Oyarde Farms.

[jmdrake]

How about just making it like carrots?
Nothing to keep people from growing, selling or eating them.

Because it's easier to convince people that marijuana is like alcohol than it is like carrots. (Keep it away from children and don't drive stoned).

[jmdrake]

Depends on your definition of decriminalize.

Decriminalizing includes making it a $100 fine to possess, with no criminal charges. But you can be charged a felony for growing or selling it. Still "decriminalized"

In that case, legalizing would be a lot better because there would be no fine to possess and there are legal ways to grow and sell.

I find it funny that the some libertarians are so pessimistic that no news is good news. "Any illicit drug reform that doesn't allow 6 year olds to shoot up heroin is counter productive!"

[Working Poor]

I would much rather see marijuana decriminalized rather than legalized.

Well the definition of both words should be about the same. For instance "hemp" is called legal in my state but I can't just go buy some seeds and grow it. I would have to go thru a mountain of BS in order to grow it. But there is a shop down the street that sells it in it's raw form and it cost about as much as street pot. WTF! when I was a kid I used to go to Nebraska to work on a relatives farm and it grew in ditches and it was free. But even though it grew in ditches if you got caught with it in your pocket you could go to jail.

Pot has been decriminalized which means if I am driving down the road I probably won't get searched but it they find even one plant growing in my yard I could lose my property and go to jail and the same with hemp if I don't have a permit. I know there are people growing it around me cause I can smell it when I drive or walk by their place. I don't know if they are paying someone off or what but, I am going to mind my own business.
I am glad Mexico is making it legal though. I wonder if it will really be legal or if a bunch of bureaucrats are going to me putting their fingers in the pie like they do in the USA? I hate regulations

[DamianTV]

That will have consequences here...

Those that grow the weed there will know that RISK is the biggest influencer on the price of their product. They will look to move their pot across the border to the states in which pot is still illegal. Our ONLY REAL DEFENSE is to LEGALIZE IT HERE, which will keep their prices DOWN and remove the incentive to sell it here as opposed to Mexico.

[devil21]

removing it as a source of income for violent drug gangs.

And instead turning it over to a source of income for corporate gangs instead.

No doubt things like this are a general move in the right direction but it should be obvious by now that legalization was only allowed once the 3-piece-suit-gangster-cartel had gained control over it from the rifle cartel.