A court in Mexico has made it legal for only two people to ingest cocaine.
The new ruling would allow the unnamed pair of people the ability to use small portions of cocaine, according to Mexico United Against Crime (MUCD), an NGO that filed legal papers in the case as part of its strategy to change the country’s drug policy.
This makes history as the first time the country has made cocaine use legal; however, the ruling will be forwarded to a higher court for ratification. Mexico is currently dealing with its drug policy under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose official development plan for 2019-2024 pledges to reform a “prohibitionist approach” that it calls “unsustainable” due to the “violence and poor public health outcomes” it has generated, according to CNN.
The organization said the ruling sets a new tone for judiciary’s understanding of drugs, as the org wants to tackle the current war on drugs and decide on the new ways to distribute public resources in order to fight crimes. “We have spent years working for a more secure, just and peaceful Mexico,” said Lisa Sánchez, MUCD’s director. “This case is about insisting on the need to stop criminalizing users of drugs… and design better public policies that explore all the available options, including regulation.”
Mexico is a major traveling point for cocaine going to the U.S. and trafficking – both countries – have grown in numbers and power over the years since the 1980s. According to a 2018 US Congressional Research Service report, “many sources indicate” that about 150,000 intentional homicides in Mexico since 2006 were linked to organized crime.
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