Mexico’s general elections were held on Sunday, July 1 and the emerging victor for the country’s presidential run, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is likely to push for criminal drug law reforms, according to a teleSUR report.
President-elect López Obrador, who is a former mayor of Mexico City, is already considering decriminalizing recreational cannabis use and regulating the country’s illegal opium trade, said senior aide and former Supreme Court judge Olga Sánchez Cordero. According to Cordero, it doesn’t make sense to continue enforcing drug prohibition when close to a dozen U.S. states plus Canada have chosen to legalize cannabis.
“What are we thinking? Tell me. Killing ourselves. Really, keep on killing when… North America is decriminalizing?” — Olga Sánchez Cordero, in an interview with W Radio
Medical cannabis was legalized in Mexico in 2017 and, in 2016, current President Enrique Peña Nieto spoke in favor of decriminalizing the possession of up to an ounce of cannabis flower. Mexico, however, continues to experience extreme violence and political corruption resulted from drug prohibition, largely carried out by the country’s infamous drug cartels.
Mr. López Obrador upset Mexico’s political paradigm with a landslide victory on Sunday, wherein more than half the country’s voters supported the 64-year-old leftist. His victory is made even more historic, however, because Mexico’s government will be governed by a single party for the first time in 89 years.