Mexico’s senators are considering a cannabis legalization bill ahead of a Dec. 15 deadline set by the Supreme Court to pass legislation to regulate adult-use cannabis, according to a Reuters report.
The Senate’s health, justice and legislative studies commissions took up the bill Nov. 13, the news outlet reported.
The legislation would allow licensed businesses to sell cannabis and legalize the possession of up to 28 grams, while also allowing adults to grow up to four plants at home, according to Reuters.
The bill also establishes the Mexican Institute for Regulation and Cannabis Control within the country’s Health Ministry, the news outlet reported.
The Mexico Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that an absolute ban on adult-use cannabis was unconstitutional, which forced lawmakers to regulate it at the federal level.
The Senate considered legislation last year to legalize and regulate cannabis, but lawmakers missed a Supreme Court-imposed deadline to pass the bill by the end of October 2019, which prompted a deadline extension to April 30, 2020.
Senators then asked the Supreme Court in March to extend the deadline again due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the suspension of many legislative procedures.
The Supreme Court granted the deadline extension in late April, giving lawmakers until Dec. 15 to finalize and approve the bill.
Mexico’s adult-use cannabis market would be the largest in the world in terms of population, according to Reuters, and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador supports legalization as a way to cut off funding to violent drug gangs.
