Mexico Just Beat the U.S. to Legalizing Medical Marijuana

These days, when Mexico and the United States are mentioned in the same sentence, it usually has something to do with President Trump building a wall. So it’s a little bit ironic that Mexico beat the U.S. to tearing down the wall between its citizens and access to legal medical marijuana. On June 21, 2017, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed a decree legalizing medical cannabis in the country, with the strong support of the nation’s Lower House of Congress. [1]

There’s just this…one…little…pesky detail: only products with 1% THC or lower will be permitted. That’s just slightly less than some of the 20%+ THC products some of the legal medical cannabis dispensaries in America offer. Heh. Even so, the decree classified the psychoactive ingredient as “therapeutic.” [1] [2]

In the declaration, Nieto called on the Ministry of Health to draft and implement regulations and public policies regarding “the medicinal use of pharmacological derivatives of cannabis sativa, indica, and Americana or marijuana, including tetrahydrocannabinol its isomers, and stereo-chemical variants, as well as how to regulate the research and national production of them.” [2]

The decree is a start, but nothing close to what pro-marijuana lawmakers had hoped for. Sen. Miguel Barbosa said the legislation was “well below the expectations of society.” Sen. Armando Rios Peter referred to it as a “tiny” step away from a failed drug policy. [1]

But the bloody drug trade has made large swaths of Latin America terrifying warzones, so the move could ease such tensions, though the effect could be negligible, because – come on, 1% THC or less?

Though an estimated 100,000 people have died at the hands of drug cartels in the last decade, marijuana legalization of any kind is remarkably unpopular in Mexico. About 66% of the population opposes it.

The Catholic Church staunchly opposes legalization, even for medicinal purposes, once writing in an editorial:

“A drug is a drug even if it’s sold as a soft medicinal balm. Bad Mexican copycats emulate the neighbor to put on the table of ‘sane democracy’ a bleak, absurd and counterproductive debate. Recreational marijuana is a placebo to ease the pain of the social destruction in which we irremediably wallow.”

So, it might be a baby step, but it’s still a step in the right direction.

A statement from the Lower House of Parliament reads:

“The ruling eliminates the prohibition and criminalization of acts related to the medicinal use of marijuana and its scientific research, and those relating to the production and distribution of the plant for these purposes.” [2]

President Nieto was once a major opponent of marijuana legalization, but now believes that drug addiction should be thought of as a public health problem, and has advocated for Mexico and the U.S. to follow similar policies on drug use and marijuana legalization. [1]

Sources:

[1] The Washington Post

[2] The Fresh Toast

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

Legal Marijuana Created 18,000 New Jobs in Colorado Last Year

The marijuana industry created more than 18,000 new jobs in Colorado last year, and had a $2.39 billion impact on the state, according to a new report released October 26. [1]

In a study conducted by the economic consulting firm Marijuana Policy Group (MPG), researchers looked at two years’ worth of sales numbers from Colorado and found that legalization resulted in nearly $1 billion in retail sales in 2015.

Source: WeAreChange.org

There was also an indirect economic impact from increased demand on local goods and services, such as growers renting warehouse space and purchasing high-tech lighting and irrigation equipment. Then there are the contractors, lawyers, bookkeepers, and other companies that cannabis retailers rely on.

Study co-author and MPG founder Adam Orens said:

“If this is done right, regulated right, taxed right, this industry can bring real economic benefits to a state.

If the state or the local governments manage, permit and enforce [marijuana regulation] in a thoughtful way, then this can have real benefits.”

According to the Marijuana Policy Group, the legal marijuana industry’s growth isn’t so much the result of new, previously untapped demand for weed, but rather from a reduction of the unregulated black market.

Orens and his co-authors wrote:

“It would be easy to confuse the rapid growth in marijuana sales with an inherent growth in marijuana demand. But that is not the case. Legal marijuana sales are increasing due to a supply shift — away from gray and black market suppliers, toward licensed suppliers.”

The black market is what keeps marijuana prices high, and what most people associate with drug-related crime. Opponents of the War on Drugs have been pushing for decriminalization for decades, partly because it reduces the black market.

In Colorado and Washington, D.C., the black market still exists, but the new study suggests it has been greatly reduced by legalization. In fact, the MPG predicts that by 2020, more than 90% of the marijuana market will be supplied by regulated, state-licensed dealers. Home growers and a small fraction of unregulated and “grey market” dealers (dealers who aren’t entirely legally legitimate) will comprise the remaining 10%.

The report states:

“Applying the marijuana impact model to Colorado, it was found that each dollar spent on retail marijuana generates $2.40 in state output. This compares favorably with general retail trade, which yields $1.88 per dollar. The more traditional (and sometimes subsidized) mining sector generates $1.79 per dollar. General manufacturing generates $1.94 per dollar, and casinos generate just $1.73 per dollar of spending.

Other industries have lower output yields because their inputs are sourced from outside of the state, or because the profits are remitted to corporate owners that exist primarily outside of the state as well.” [2]

However, Oren stresses that the report only examined the economics of marijuana legalization in Colorado, not its effects on public health or criminal justice. [1]

At that point, the MPG expects growth in the state’s cannabis industry to slow, resembling growth in other retail industries, which tend to follow population growth.

Additionally, the Marijuana Policy Group found:

• Marijuana is currently bringing in tax revenue at three times the rate of the alcohol industry. MPG predicts that by 2020, pot will overtake cigarette taxes as a revenue-generator.

• Marijuana taxes brought in about $121 million in revenue last year. MPG expects that number to increase to about $150 million by 2020.

In 2014, the marijuana industry brought more than 10,000 new jobs to Colorado.

In the Spring of 2014 – just three months after marijuana was legalized in Colorado – the city of Denver enjoyed a 14.6% decrease in crime.

Tax revenue from legal weed has funded scholarships for high school seniors in need.

And speaking of young people, a report from this past July showed that youth marijuana use stayed at about the same level post-legalization, shattering the myth that decriminalizing marijuana sends straight-A students into the depths of addiction, despair, and destroyed futures.

Sources:

[1] The Washington Post

[2] The Cannabist

WeAreChange.org

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.