People 18 years and older and licensed would be able to grow, carry or eat cannabis and its products.
The full chamber of Mexico’s Lower House is expected to debate and vote on a bill this week that would decriminalize cannabis, in a move that would, if passed, make the country one. of the largest markets in the world for the drug.
The bill, backed by the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, would mark a major shift in a country that has been mourned for years by violence between drug cartels.
The debate was set to begin on Tuesday, but EFE news agency reported, citing anonymous government sources that the debate was postponed until Wednesday. It is not clear when voting would take place.
Late Monday, two special committees of the Mexican Low House of Congress approved a draft bill.
Only people 18 and older, and with permission, can grow, carry or eat cannabis and its products, according to the bill, which Lopez governing party Obrador Morena proposed. Morena has a majority in every room of Congress.
Under the bill, residents may be able to have up to 28 grams of cannabis [File: Carlos Jasso/Reuters]
According to the draft, a person can legally be in possession of up to 28 grams of cannabis for personal consumption, which equates to 28 cigarettes.
And at home, people can grow up to six hemp plants, but only eight plants are allowed in shared residences.
The health and justice committees approved the bill, which was easily passed by the Senate in a vote in November and would create a huge new legal market for cannabis that companies want to crack down on.
Other Colombian-Canadian Life Sciences, Canadian Canopy Growth and Dutch organic canopy, as well as medical cannabis from California, are among other companies looking at Mexico.
The bill would allow consumers of cannabis plants to grow at home [File: Carlos Jasso/Reuters]
The bill was created by the Mexican Institute for the Control and Control of Cannabis, which issues five types of licenses for the cultivation, transformation, sale, research and export or import of cannabis.
Former President Vicente Fox, who is on the board of global medical cannabis company Khiron Life Sciences, told Reuters that the move would help create much-needed jobs and economic investment in the country.
Fox said it expects Congress to pass the bill this week.
But experts say the move is likely to affect the United States.
“It creates some very interesting trade issues,” Andrew Rudman, director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, told NBC News. “Legal Mexico is going to strengthen the campaign for, if not legal, decriminalization in the United States.”
Lopez Obrador, as well as other leaders who support the bill, have argued that the decriminalization of cannabis and other narcotics could help the country fight Mexico ‘s powerful drug cartels.