MEXICO: CANNABIS LEGAL

Mexico is one step closer to legalizing marijuana, which would make the country the world’s largest legal cannabis market, ostensibly put new pressure on drug cartels, and possibly influence larger economies like the U.S. to legalize the drug under federal law.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador vowed in 2018 when he was elected president, to put an end to the country’s drug war.

Mexico’s Senate passed the bill in November, and it is expected to be made into law sometime in February. Marijuana has been legal in the country for medical purposes since 2017. The Senate voted on the bill after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that marijuana prohibition was unconstitutional.

Foreign Policy reported Portugal was the first country to decriminalize illicit drugs back in 2001, and the country has seen success.

Oregon was the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize all drugs. The measure, which was promoted by a nonprofit supported by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, passed with 58 percent of the vote, U.S. News & World Report said. (It is still illegal to sell the drugs, but possession is no longer a criminal offense.)

TREND FORECAST: As global economies go deeper into debt, more nations will legalize cannabis as a means to generate tax revenue. Will legalizing cannabis put the drug cartels out of the pot business? Not if states and nations put high taxes on sales, since buyers will stay with the dealers who give them the best bang for their buck.