Update on recreational marijuana legalization

Looks like next week.

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/lawmakers-expected-to-vote-next-week-to-legalize-pot/

This is a welcome step. But when the law is finally proclaimed, you will still need to apply for a licence even to consume, just like you don't to buy beer. Canada's cannabis business is still being held back by the permitting processes and it's probably going to be a while before we can buy clean product from a store.

gatosigi wrote:This is a welcome step. But when the law is finally proclaimed, you will still need to apply for a licence even to consume, just like you don't to buy beer. Canada's cannabis business is still being held back by the permitting processes and it's probably going to be a while before we can buy clean product from a store.

The product they are allowed to sell in BC is absolutely garbage. You need 4 times the amount they are allowed to sell. eg 4 grams per unit where you would need 4 units to get any effects

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-08/mexico-cannabis-legalization-legislation-stalls-in-senate

"Mexico’s proposal to legalize cannabis has hit a snag in the Senate, where a revised version of the bill is under consideration."
"Senate Majority Leader Ricardo Monreal said Thursday that he prefers to seek an extension to the Supreme Court’s April deadline to change the current prohibitory law, making it unclear whether the bill might be submitted for another vote in the coming weeks."
“What’s best for everyone is for this to be a good law, not a law that is approved too swiftly and that will later be difficult to put into effect,” Monreal said in press conference on Thursday.
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One political analyst stated a while ago that the Morena party would prefer not to approve a law permitting the recreational use of cannabis before the coming elections given that a large majority of Mexicans are still bamboozled by the past lies of the USA re. the extreme dangers of marijuana.  Senate Leader Monreal is saying that some changes made by the lower house are unconstitutional and that the law as currently proposed would lead to challenges in court. He wants to take up the issue in the following sitting of the senate ("proximo periodo de sesiones").
So after 2.5 years they have not bothered to come up with the law that the supreme court directed them to institute. They have had three extensions of the time limit and now they want another one. I would like to see the supreme court call their bluff and let the current prohibition fall at the current time limit, the end of April, so the government would be forced to act. Otherwise the Morena party might seem to be getting unwarranted support for the election.

jgriff wrote:[quote="

The product they are allowed to sell in BC is absolutely garbage. You need 4 times the amount they are allowed to sell. eg  4 grams per unit where you would need 4 units to get any effects

Who knows what that is all about. Canadian growers have produced some of the most powerful plants the world has known. This is partly because they have had produce their experiments in sheltered areas, and are usually always developing hybrids, almost always Sativa and Indica. Maybe the government requires them to weaken the juice. So many newbies, based on what they see on TV etc., think it is all about smoking joints. Down here in Mexico, many are growing landrace tropicals, I have 3 which are in the 23 to 25 THC range, no CBD at all, just a bunch of wierd terpenes. With these joints you are warned to only take 2 or 3 puffs or maybe mini sticks like the old Thai sticks. An ecstatic, full energy high, very active creatively. No couch lock or drowzies. Completely different high.

I personally anticipate some big problems with the cannabis vacationers market in Mexico because of the tropicals. I find this company to be the experts, and they are eager to help you out.
Aceseeds.org

[quote="CHILLIN"]

jgriff wrote:An ecstatic, full energy high, very active creatively. No couch lock or drowzies.
Aceseeds.org

B.S. You can't make a blanket statement like that, affects different people differently. All pot makes me want to go to sleep, including the stuff that's supposedly "high energy".

Then you are going to be surprised. Where did you get strains of tropical sativa in this country which haven't been sold here for over 50 years? Acapulco Gold (the real one), Panama Red, Thai Stick, Zacatecas. They became too dangerous to ship through tropical Mexico, so the whole industry and switched to Indica hybrids and nearer the border.

little off subject here but in the states, you can buy Delta 8, so far it's legal and does give you a buzz and works to alleviate pain

I purchased some pot in the washington state pot store and it was so strong I couldn't smoke it so I gave it to one of the pot heads and he threw it away with the same problem. No one is limiting the strength in Washington state and it is a concern for me.  I don't need wacky doodle pot just some nice stuff that tastes good. Lately the pot has become much stronger around here so do be aware and only take a hit and wait. They are learning very fast and the days of two people sharing a joint and still walking may be coming to an end. I will miss the sharing but I don't want to end up asleep.

Sounds like you would like the classic Hazes from the early 1970's. This sounds like a good candidate. They are trying to preserve the strain as cleanly as possible. Which means they are sold as standard, a couple may turnout to be males. Then it becomes tricky, you have to well separate the male well away until it gives up pollen, save some pollen with a q tip and a tight bag, so now you can pollinate, get a nice smoke, and a whole bunch of seeds for next year. Future male plants are culled.

https://www.aceseeds.org/en/destacados/oldtimershazestd.html
I am not an ethnobotanist, but I believe one can see a change where the subculture changed from psychodelic euphoria (sativa and lsd) to a stoner Cheech and Chong sterotype (Indica, Skunk and Afghani). You can see it changed music, it changed fashions.

Well it appears Mexico's legalization plan is about as solid as it's vaccination plan.......wonder which will be completed first.

Just find a Covid vaccine administer by tequila, or smoke, problem solved overnight! Kill two birds with two stones.

Zed could also try anything with skunk in its name. Mild, pleasurable experience with friends. But, by god this stuff smells, growing more than smoking, but still. Grow in a neighbor's yard who you dont like, then at harvest time pick the colas and flowers into a tight plastic bag. You will get tired of hearing, do you smell a gas leak? no, but a family of skunks have moved in.

https://eyewitness101.com/2021/04/16/mexico-president-backs-extension-of-supreme-court-heads-term-sparks-backlash/
&
https://www.srnnews.com/mexican-senators-vote-to-extend-term-of-supreme-court-president-2/
"Mexico’s Senate on Thursday voted to extend the term of the president of the Supreme Court for an extra two years, a move criticized by opposition lawmakers who called it a bid by the ruling party to strengthen its hold on the country’s institutions.

Arturo Zaldivar, who has been publicly supportive of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, was appointed in January 2019 with a term slated to end on Dec. 31, 2022."
So maybe the supreme court will not be holding Morena's feet to the fire.

Soooooo it is nearing the end of 2022 and what happened to legalized marijuana?

It went up in smoke?

Sure looks like it. There was another article about the rise of illegal opioid poppy growing in Mexico. My first thought was "legalize marijuana so they can grow that instead".

I am a great believer in the power of THC and CBD for medicinal purposes. I am not a fan of "smoking" it because that comes with its own health hazards and affects other people second hand. When they get around to regulating it as to content and analyzed for purity (no pesticides, no mold etc.) then, maybe, it will get passed.

Edibles is where it is at for many.

And I am not a fan of edibles. I prefer under the tongue for absorption. It acts more quickly and the potency isn't lost by travelling all through the digestive system until it is absorbed into the bloodstream. Under the tongue, it is absorbed directly through the big veins located there.

For those really interested in the future of legalized weed, I recommend the book "Can legal weed win" by two Cal economists. They show why medicinal MJ and legal weed have failed to be big money-makers in the States, why legalization hasn't affected the illegal weed business at all, and where it is all likely to go in the future. Their supply-and-demand graphs and economic analysis are probably as applicable in Mexico and Canada, too.

As I'm not going to buy the book, as far as "failed to be big money-makers", what do they consider to be money-making? Do they consider things other than producers' and sellers' profits?
There are all kinds of other economic benefits aside from that. For instance, in the US there is now what is known as marijuana tourism- people who want to experience being in a state which has legalized marijuana, so they can smoke pot in public, check out dispensaries, and tour pot-growing operations. They think it's cool. Kinda like travelers going to Amsterdam for that reason, way back in the 70s.
These people create profits for the travel industry- airlines, Airbnbs, retaurants and other businesses.

Being from British Columbia, where pot has always been easily available, regardless of legal or illegal, and isn't considered to be any big deal, I at first didn't believe this when I read about it- that people would think being somewhere pot was legal would be such a fun and exciting attraction. But it is definitely a thing.

As for legalization not affecting the illegal weed business, that doesn't surprise me at all. I suspect most of the people who would go to a dispensary to buy pot are people who haven't been smoking it all along for years. Those who have are not going to suddenly go buy it at a dispensary- they are going to keep getting it from their buddy Joe, who's had a hidden growshow in his barn for decades.

As far as I can see, the only thing that legalization accomplishes is that people won't get busted and go to jail or get fined for possession, and that people who would occasionally smoke pot if it were legal will be more likely to. Like my son-in-law, who has a high-profile job and told me that legalizing weed would make him more likely to take a toke off a joint being passed around at some party, whereas before he wouldn't risk someone spreading it around that, "Hey, I saw K. toking up at a party."

It's all about cost. The Canadian government stupidly priced their weed at $10 CAD per gram. That is way too much. They should have came out at $5.00 per gram and put "buddy Joe" out of business.

No major investors have made any significant money in the legal weed market; several have lost tens of millions. States which projected big revenues have also been disappointed.
As you say, long-time users continue to buy from their own sources, which they consider safe. Legal retailers have all kinds of extra costs (including taxes) which make their weed much more expensive.
Legalization has redirected law enforcement (LE) resources, but that is part of the problem. Since LE isn't interested as much, there is no one to "police" the illegal growers/retailers. Some legal weed retailers are calling for MORE LE involvement for this reason (pretty ironic, no?). Cartels have moved more weed production into the US; not having to cross the border makes it much easier for them, and again, fewer LE resources are looking for their farms.
California is a pretty amusing case. Under medicinal weed rules, it was legal to light up pretty much anywhere. When they went to legalization, they also gave local government the right to regulate. Guess what? Local government doesn't want weed shops in the downtown, doesn't want people lighting up in public parks, doesn't want weed farms next to housing developments (they stink).
Don't buy the book, but check it out from any electronic library source.
The authors favor full legalization, and project that eventually weed will be another (small but profitable) crop run by big Ag. . .at least that's what they hope.

You can draw similarities to prostitution in the old days. A lot of young college kids and naval base enlisted personnel would flock to Tijuana and Mexicali to enjoy the night life there. But it was mostly outsiders who went to those places.
You’ll find a brothel in most towns in Mexico but they aren’t any more popular than most regular bars.

CanuckBob wrote:It's all about cost. The Canadian government stupidly priced their weed at $10 CAD per gram. That is way too much. They should have came out at $5.00 per gram and put "buddy Joe" out of business.

Well, I don't agree with putting buddy Joe out of business. And that will never happen, anyway. It's a business like any other- there are expenses and labor involved- you can't lower costs beyond a certain amount or a business becomes unprofitable.

(BTW, it's " should have come", not "should have came". What's with so many people using the past tense of a verb these days with "have" or "had"? I read it everywhere, even in articles by professional journalists. Is grammar passé?)