Despite Court Rulings, Mexican President Says Marijuana Legalization 'Not On Our Agenda'

Not long after Ricardo Monreal, the Senate leader of Mexico’s ruling party MORENA, announced that a vote on adult-use marijuana legalization would occur by the end of October,  Mexican President Andrés López Manuel Obrador told another story.

At a Thursday morning press conference, the president said marijuana legalization "is not on our agenda."

The president’s response comes as a surprise, as members of his own party have pointed out that marijuana legalization is forthcoming.

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Mexico's Supreme Court has ruled five times that the country’s ban on adult-use cannabis is unconstitutional, making it a binding precedent under the law.

Nevertheless, the president seems to think that there are more important things to take care of at the moment than recreational cannabis legalization.

“With all respect, we haven’t considered that,” he said at his daily early morning press event. “I’m not ruling it out, but it is not on our agenda. We are dealing with other important issues.”

Those issues include labor, problems impacting the country’s youth and health, High Times reported. 

However, the president did imply that his administration would comply with an approved legalization plan.  

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