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Mexico’s Supreme Court Decriminalizes Recreational Marijuana Use

(Photo by PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images)

Daniel O'Keefe Contributor
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Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized recreational marijuana use Monday, The Associated Press (AP) reported. 

The ruling made it legal for adult citizens to personally use and grow fixed amounts of marijuana, but they would first have to obtain a government permit from the country’s Health Department, The AP reported. The ruling also reportedly allows individuals to grow up to six marijuana plants, while households are only allowed to grow up to eight. Permit recipients cannot use the drug around children or drive while under the influence, according to The AP.

However, any person caught with more than one ounce — or 28 grams — would be fined, and anyone caught with more than 12 pounds — or 5.6 kilograms — could face jail time, The AP reported.

Medical marijuana has been legal in Mexico since 2017 and is currently legal in a number of other Latin American countries. Mexico now joins Uruguay as the only two countries in the region that permit the recreational use of the drug, The AP reported.

The Mexico Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that marijuana prohibition was unconstitutional, and gave Congress until April 30 of this year to rectify the law, according to The AP. The country’s lower house was able to pass legislation, but the Senate was not, The AP reported.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas criticized the federal government’s current approach to marijuana regulation Monday. (RELATED: ‘Half-In, Half-Out’: Clarence Thomas Calls Out Marijuana Laws, Suggests They Might Not Be Constitutional)

“The federal government’s current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana,” Thomas wrote. “This contradictory and unstable state of affairs strains basic principles of federalism and conceals traps for the unwary.”

Many states in the U.S. have opted to legalize recreational marijuana use, such as New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as public support for the legalization of the drug is at an all-time high.