Mexican Congress approves landmark cannabis decriminalization bill

Mexico’s lower house of Congress on Wednesday approved a bill that would decriminalize cannabis for recreational, medical and scientific uses, bringing it a step closer to creating one of the world’s largest markets for the plant, Reuters reports.

Backed by the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the bill marks a major shift in a country bedeviled for years by violence between feuding drug cartels.

Lawmakers approved the bill in general with 316 votes in favor and 127 against. Now, the Senate needs to review and approve the bill.

If passed, the law would create a huge market, which foreign companies are eager to tap.

The bill would allow five types of licenses for the cultivation, transformation, sale, research and export or import of marijuana. Only people 18 years and older, and with a permit, would be able to grow, carry or consume marijuana and its derivatives.

“Today we are making history,” said Simey Olvera, a lawmaker from Lopez Obrador’s ruling Morena party who was wearing a mask with marijuana leaves printed on it.