Cannabis Garden Planted Next to Mexico’s Senate Building

Activists in Mexico have planted a cannabis garden right next to the nation’s Senate building following a Supreme Court decision in 2018 that effectively ended prohibition in the nation, Al Día reports. Despite lawmakers not yet passing a broad legalization law, people are permitted to smoke cannabis from the garden for 30 minutes at a time without fear of being arrested or charged by police.

Jose Rivera, a cannabis activist, told Reuters that the garden is a tool to educate and offer “human rights.”

“We want (Mexican lawmakers) to understand that we are smoking quietly and that we are not a risk to anyone. Enough of the mistreatment.” — Rivera to Reuters 

Cannabis consumers, generally, can still be charged and prosecuted; however, police do not seem interested in the “Garden of Maria,” those using cannabis in it, or those who take care of it, according to Al Día.

A cannabis legalization bill proposed in Mexico — required by the Supreme Court decision — would permit possession and cultivation for people aged 18-and-older, tax cannabis sales at 12 percent, allow public consumption, cap personal possession at 1 ounce, decriminalize possession up to 200 grams, and allow for the personal cultivation up to 20 plants, which must be registered with the government and cannot exceed 480 grams annually.

Under the proposal, medical patients would be allowed to grow an additional 20 plants, and hemp and CBD would be exempt from regulations that apply to THC products.

Once the legalization law is approved, Mexico will join Canada and Uruguay as the only nations to have ended cannabis prohibition nationally.