Did you read that Mexico has made medical marijuana legal? Here it is in the Washington Post:
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed a decree this week legalizing medical marijuana. The measure also classified the psychoactive ingredient in the drug as “therapeutic.”
The new policy isn’t exactly opening the door for medical marijuana dispensaries on every corner.
Instead it calls on the Ministry of Health to draft and implement regulations and public policies regulating “the medicinal use of pharmacological derivatives of cannabis sativa, indica and Americana or marijuana, including tetrahydrocannabinol.” It also tasks the ministry with developing a research program to study the drug’s impact before creating broader policies.
Yeah, well don’t make you doctor’s appointment just yet. From the unlikely sounding website Herb.co:
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on June 19 officially published a bill making medical cannabis legal and available in our neighbor to the south. But there’s a big catch: Unfortunately, only products with 1 percent THC or lower will be allowed.
By contrast, Colorado’s recreational pot can by as high as 28 percent THC.
And in Mexico, there’s legal and there’s legal. Since 2009, Mexican law has allowed users to possess up to five grams of the evil weed. Theoretically.
During the Troubles I was in a bar in Juarez talking to the famous ex-luchador El Vikingo, and I pointed out to him that technically, marijuana was legal in Mexico.
“Oh yeah?” he said. “Go down and smoke a joint in front of those soldiers, and see what happens.”
To copy William Gibson, “The present is here in Mexico. It’s just not evenly distributed.”