Will Legalizing Medical Marijuana Alone Remedy Mexico's Cartel Woes? Gregory Heilers - Merry Jane
go to original May 11, 2016

Mexican President plans to legalize medical marijuana (CCTV News)

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto recently proposed legalizing medicinal marijuana. As President EPN stated in an address to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs, Mexico “is one of the nations that have paid a high price, an excessive price, in terms of tranquility, suffering and human lives.”

Mexico is well known in the US for its terrible cartel-related violence. The country has suffered over 100,000 deaths and 20,000 unresolved kidnappings in the past ten years as a result of violence between gangs, as well as between gangs and security forces.

Mexico’s ranking as one of the top cannabis producers and exporters worldwide has brought upon terrible consequences, but the industry is not solely to blame, and looking to cannabis to cure all of Mexico’s problems may be placing too much importance on the plant’s role in society.

Though personally opposed to legalizing marijuana in any form, Nieto seeks an end to the senseless death stemming from the drug war, and he is not alone. Mexico’s Supreme Court recently protected the rights of four individuals to produce and consume marijuana recreationally.

Mexican civilians are also doing what they can to help improve understanding of the drug’s role within Mexican culture. José “Pepe” Rivera Pallán and other activists with the Instituto Mexicano del Cánnabis study the present situation and extract data that guides the legislative process.

Merry Jane sat down with Rivera Pallán to gain insight into just how the latest shift in favor of medicinal marijuana might affect cartels, and whether or not the consumption of cannabis is gaining widespread support in Mexico.

Read the rest at Merry Jane

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