Mexican Senator To File Psychedelics Legalization Bill, With U.S. Congressman Backing International Reform Push

A Mexican senator announced on Wednesday that she will be introducing a bill to legalize and regulate psychedelics nationwide to give people an alternative treatment option for serious mental health conditions.

At an Intercultural Forum on Entheogenic Medicine that took place in the Senate, Sen. Alejandra Lagunes of the Ecologist Green Party said that substances like psilocybin and ayahuasca have “high therapeutic potential, low toxicity and don’t create physical dependence or abuse.”

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) also made remarks in a video recording that was played at the forum, applauding lawmakers in the neighboring country for taking initial steps to further dismantle prohibition and unlock the potential of psychedelics.

Ismail Ali @sage_izzy, Zara Snapp @zarasnapp, Earl Blumenauer @repblumenauer, Angela Allbee, Directora de la Sección de Servicios de Psilocibina en @OHAOregon, Armando Loizaga, Víctor Ángel-Mosti @vanmosti, Jesús Olamendi, Santiago Ortela y al Dr Paul Hersch Martínez.

— Alejandra Lagunes (@alelagunes) January 26, 2023

The congressman, who has promoted psychedelics reform domestically while continuing to champion marijuana legalization, said that Mexico is moving in the “right direction,” and he looks “forward to being your American partner” in the push for reform. Blumenauer was separately part of a congressional delegation to Colombia last year where he discussed to need to move on from the drug war.

Lagunes hasn’t formally filed the psychedelics bill yet, so it’s unclear what a therapeutic program might look like or what substances will be involved. But it could take notes from Blumenauer’s home state, where voters approved a ballot initiative in 2020 to legalize supervised psilocybin services centers.

📷 #HoyEnElSenado se realiza el segundo día del Foro intercultural de medicina enteógena. https://t.co/GG7lVd0Vl1pic.twitter.com/8hvPtf9JNl

— Senado de México (@senadomexicano) January 25, 2023

“Mexico has in its native peoples an infinite wisdom and knowledge of psilocybin mushrooms and what they can do for the mental health of the population,” the senator said, according to a translation. “We are doing something that does not exist anywhere else in the world, because we want to consider ancestral knowledge, the original peoples—but we also want to take into account what is happening in the world and not be left behind.”

Hoy tenemos la posibilidad de innovar en #saludmental y, la información y educación serán claves para poder avanzar con una regulación eficaz. Por eso, debemos preguntarnos: ¿Cuáles son las políticas públicas que mejor respondan a las necesidades de la mayoría, al bien común?

— Alejandra Lagunes (@alelagunes) January 26, 2023

She added that the forthcoming legislation must be informed by “knowing how we integrate ancestral knowledge with the reality of biomedicine, what are the public policies that best respond to the needs of the majority, how to avoid extractivism and guarantee access, among others.”

Concluyó el foro, pero inicia el trabajo para regular el uso de terapias alternativas con grandes beneficios para la salud mental con el uso de 🍄 y #psilocibina. #SaludMental#InnovacionParaSaludMentalpic.twitter.com/QKxNzWxh8A

— Alejandra Lagunes (@alelagunes) January 26, 2023

It’s unclear whether there’s strong enough appetite for psychedelics reform to advance the pending bill. Mexican lawmakers have struggled to enact legislation to legalize recreational marijuana, despite a Supreme Court mandate to end prohibition.

Late last year, the presidents of Colombia and Mexico announced that they would be bringing together other Latin American leaders for an international conference focused on on “redesigning and rethinking drug policy” given the “failure” of prohibition.

A top Mexican Senate official recently said that she’s heard from a colleague who visited leaders in several Latin American countries, and they’re consistently asking about the status of Mexico’s efforts to legislatively end prohibition and set up a regulated marijuana market.

It’s been more than four years since the nation’s highest court deemed prohibition unconstitutional, leaving it up to Congress to follow up with a policy change, accordingly. But lawmakers have so far been unable to reach a consensus on legislation to put in place regulations for a cannabis program even as various bills have moved forward in the legislative process.

At the request of lawmakers, the court agreed to extend its deadline for Congress to formally end prohibition on multiple occasions. But because of the repeated failed attempts to meet those deadlines, justices ultimately voted to end criminalization on their own in 2021.

Mexico’s president said in late 2020 that a vote on legalization legislation was delayed due to minor “mistakes” in the proposal.

A top Mexican senator separately said in 2021 that “there is no longer room for the prohibitionist policy. ” And she also said that the influence of the U.S .is to blame for failed marijuana criminalization laws  in her country.

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Photo courtesy of Dick Culbert.

Mexican President Wants Focus On Medical Marijuana As Senators Consider Broader Legalization

As members of Mexican Senate committees convene to finalize the provisions of marijuana legalization legislation, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Wednesday that his focus is on allowing medical cannabis, rather than recreational use.

Medical marijuana is just one component of a broad bill that is under consideration by lawmakers. It also addresses legalization for adult use and industrial purposes.

But when asked about the issue at a press conference, López Obrador said it remains to be seen and that “we are not thinking about this now.” His vision of reform is centered on “medical purposes only, only for health purposes,” he said.

Mexican president @lopezobrador_ says his government is not considering marijuana legalization beyond medicinal use, says 70 out of every 100 people murdered in Mexico every day are drunk or on drugs (he has no evidence for that).

How very progressive and leftist. https://t.co/BO680gHFuE

— Jan-Albert Hootsen 🇳🇱🇲🇽 (@jahootsen) February 26, 2020

He also dedicated a signification portion of the event to talking about drugs more generally.

López Obrador said “we need to stop the increase in consumption because, if we do not achieve this, it will be difficult or it will be more complicated to guarantee peace and tranquility.”

Further, he argued that drugs are a source of violence and that involvement in the illicit market is not as glamorous as it’s made out to be in the media. People who use illegal drugs are “being destroyed” and contributing to the “suffering for others who are victims of drug use” such as the families of individuals who are suffer from addiction or are incarcerated over drug convictions, he said.

“Let’s start with a direct campaign about what this underworld of sacrifices really means—of pain, this bitter reality,” López Obrador said, adding that he’s “confident that we will calm down the country and put order, and we will move forward in the fight against drugs.”

However, that approach will not simply center on criminalization, he said. It will involve looking at the root causes of substance misuse. He also said that the government “will present a report of everything that is being done on this matter” next week.

The president’s comments about limiting reform to medical cannabis may come as a surprise to legislators who have been working on a comprehensive legalization bill for months since the Supreme Court deemed the country’s prohibition on possession and cultivation for personal use unconstitutional in 2018.

A committee-approved legalization bill came close to receiving a Senate vote last year ahead of the court’s deadline to end prohibition, but last-minute concerns prompted lawmakers to request an extension, which was granted. Congress now has until April to change the policy.

To that end, members of the Justice, Health, Legislative Studies and Public Safety Committees are meeting on Wednesday to go over the details of a legalization proposal.

🔴 Reunión de las Comisiones Unidas de Justicia, de Salud y de Estudios Legislativos Segunda, del 26 de febrero de 2020 https://t.co/ZkaXT5gy4v

— Senado de México (@senadomexicano) February 26, 2020

Sen. Ricardo Monreal of the ruling MORENA party said on Monday that there’s “no limit on the content” of the bill and that “it is worth taking advantage of the political moment to be able to legislate broadly on this cannabis issue.”

He also said that he’s spoken to the president about their efforts and that he “expressed his respect” for the legislative process and has “no problem with the Senate carrying out a comprehensive legislative exercise” on cannabis issues.

The senator said he wants lawmakers to tackle “all items, recreational, medicinal, recreational, sale, cultivation, commercialization, industrialization, everything.”

#HoyEnElSenado las senadoras y senadores integrantes de las Comisiones de Justicia, de Salud y de Estudios Legislativos Segunda analizaron con especialistas diversos aspectos de la regulación de la cannabis. 📷 https://t.co/LbZyl5StcZpic.twitter.com/jHFyRaTNFS

— Senado de México (@senadomexicano) February 26, 2020

As drafted, the bill under consideration would allow adults to possess up to 28 grams of cannabis for personal use and cultivate up to four plants. Individuals could apply for a license to possess more than 28 grams but no more than 200 grams.

A regulatory body called the Mexican Cannabis Institute would be responsible for issuing business licenses and developing rules for the market. The bill also contains provisions to promote social equity, such as prioritizing cultivation licenses for individuals from communities most impacted by the drug war.

The Senate committees did not vote on new bill language on Wednesday and resolved to take up the matter again next week.

Las Comisiones Unidas de Justicia; Salud; y Estudios Legislativos, Segunda, se declararon en reunión de trabajo permanente tras comenzar el proceso de dictaminación en materia de regulación de cannabis. Los trabajos se reanudarán el próximo miércoles 4 de marzo a las 13:00 horas. pic.twitter.com/Z6ICXRrsDA

— Senadores Morena (@MorenaSenadores) February 27, 2020

Reform advocates have expressed concerns over certain provisions of the legislation as currently drafted.

They’re asking senators to revise the bill to place a greater emphasis on social equity, providing protections for cannabis consumers and ensuring that market empowers domestic farmers, especially those most impacted under prohibition.

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Mexican Senate Leader Says Marijuana Will Be Legalized This Month

The Senate leader of Mexico’s ruling party said that the lawmakers will vote on a bill to legalize marijuana for adult use by the end of the month.

There are numerous pieces of legalization legislation already on the table, but Sen. Ricardo Monreal of the MORENA party said his chamber is nearly done crafting a new reform bill that will be the product of weeks of public forums and open-session debates. Members of the other half of Mexico’s legislature, the Chamber of Deputies, will be invited to weigh in on the bill.

“We’re thinking that we’ll bring the law out, approve it, at the end of October,” Monreal said. “That’s the schedule we have.”

That would mean that lawmakers are expecting to meet a Supreme Court deadline to end federal cannabis prohibition. Last year, the court ruled that the country’s ban on personal possession, use and cultivation of marijuana was unconstitutional and said the government must formally legalize those activities by October. Many key lawmakers have said the country should go even further by legally regulating cannabis sales and production as well.

The Senate held a series of events in recent weeks meant to solicit public input on legalization proposals and hear from experts on the issue in order to inform their bill. During one panel, a former White House drug czar spoke about the need for “robust regulations” in a legal cannabis market.

The chamber held another forum on the international marijuana market on Monday.

📷 #HoyEnElSenado se realiza el foro “Cannabis en el mercado internacional”, encabezado por el senador @NarroJose y en el que expertos de distintos países dialogan sobre el marco regulatorio en la materia.https://t.co/lG35dW6GuFpic.twitter.com/N0X2cLM8i0

— Senado de México (@senadomexicano) October 7, 2019

Mario Delgado Carrillo, the coordinator of the MORENA party’s bench in the Chamber of Deputies, filed legislation to legalize and regulate cannabis last week, but he proposed having the government run the market to prevent large marijuana firms from monopolizing the industry.

Neither Monreal nor President Andrés Manuel López Obrador are in favor of having a state-controlled cannabis program, however, according to El Universal. And Carrillo later clarified that his bill was designed to reflect a personal preference. Monreal said that he’s willing to incorporate certain ideas from the lawmaker’s proposal, however.

Another piece of legalization legislation that will be considered by the Senate was introduced by a member of the MORENA party, Sen. Julio Menchaca Salazar, in September.

“The idea is to try to make the best law possible,” Monreal said. “We’ve spent hours and hours debating this issue in the Senate and we’re going to respectfully invite [deputies] so that they join us in the next debates.”

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