Following the Supreme Court ruling to invalidate marijuana prohibition, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Tuesday that his administration would respect the decision. However, he is also considering putting other marijuana reforms on the ballot.

The Supreme Court ruling on Monday brings Mexico one step closer to creating one of the world’s largest legal marijuana markets. It also adds pressure to the Senate to approve the sweeping legalization bill they have had since March. 

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador answered several questions at a news conference on Tuesday. First, saying that “of course we are going to respect what the judicial power has decided, and we are going to evaluate, we are going to see what effects it has,” according to a translation. 

“If we see … that it’s not working to address the serious problem of drug addiction, that it’s not working to stop violence, then we would act,” the president said. He suggested that he could send a bill to Congress or push for a public referendum. 

In the past, the president has used referendums to decide heated political issues. However, his comments were not decisive. He did not explicitly say he was leaning toward a public referendum to solve marijuana reform in the country. 

Inaction From Lawmakers Spurs Action From Supreme Court

Lawmakers have had the last three years to create legislation on personal possession and cultivation of marijuana. But, unfortunately, Congress failed to get the job done and pass legislation by the April 2021 deadline. 

“There was no consensus because there are two visions [in the government], as in the country,” the president said. 

The resulting inaction from Congress forced the Supreme Court’s hand. The justices held a vote on a general declaration of unconstitutionality on Monday. In the meeting, the majority agreed to end criminalization. Be that as it may, the Ministry of Health will still have the regulatory power to permit personal cultivation. 

The president says it is now a “sit and wait” situation to see how ending prohibition plays out in the country. Following this period, they will evaluate how the unregulated market functions and if a voter referendum is necessary. 

“It means collecting the feelings of the people, the points of view of all and seeing how this is developing — measure how is this measure going to be applied, what effects is this measure going to have in practice,” the president said.

Either way, based on the meeting the president had on Tuesday, there is a consensus between himself and Senate leadership. The court’s ruling will stand. In the interim lawmakers will review the impacts and consequences of ending prohibition and consider further reforms if necessary. 

López Obrador ended the discussion by saying that “the court has made a decision we must observe and respect.”

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