Mexico is poised to become just the third country in the world to fully legalize marijuana.
Mexico is poised to become just the third country in the world to fully legalize marijuana (after Uruguay and Canada). If legalized, the size of the country would make it the world’s largest legal cannabis market. Already, headlines are blaring that the new law could curtail Mexico’s deadly criminal groups by denting their profits, but with drug cartels entrenched and diversified in an array of illicit markets, this is chimerical thinking.
The law currently under consideration would legalize marijuana throughout the supply chain from planting and harvesting to consumption. Even so, the law would not give the upper hand to small and medium-sized growers over corporations much less an ability to compete with cartels’ proven capacity to deliver drugs to domestic and international markets alike. There are also serious questions about Mexico’s ability to ensure the rule of law a