Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced on Tuesday that he is open to the proposal of legalizing medical marijuana and that his administration would reveal new measures in the coming days.
The Mexican president has been a vocal antagonist when it comes to legalizing drugs. He also called for a global change in dealing with drug consumption while keep up to fight with organized crime. But now, things seem to be the opposite as he rethinks about legalizing marijuana.
"I am giving voice to those who have (in public forums) expressed the necessity of changing the regulatory framework to authorize the use of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes," Peña Nieto said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, as quoted by Reuters.
In recent months, the public debate on marijuana has increased suddenly in months after the case of an epileptic 8-year old girl who became the country' first marijuana medical patient that made nationwide and worldwide headlines. The government gave the permission to import and administer the marijuana-based treatment for the young patient, according to The World Post report.
Mexico had series of public debates on the marijuana use since the Supreme Court in November ruled that four complainants have the right to grow and use it. The ruling is only available to the four who appealed against the prohibition; even it was widely seen as opening opportunities to other challenges and in the end a transition in the laws.
Violence due to drugs and total homicide rates in Mexico have been reduced in the first two years of Nieto's term beginning December 12 but violence and murders started rising again in 2015, according to The Wall Street Journal report.
He called for continued action and international cooperation upon criminal groups while embracing a new focus that finds to frustrate drug use without criminalizing consumers.
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