Mexico court rules cocaine use is ok: " in adults does not pose a significant health risk"

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat Reforma

A judge from Mexico City granted two amparos that order the Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris) to authorize the possession, transport, use and use of cocaine, excluding the all trade act

The amparos were granted to members of the Mexico United Against Crime organization. "Cocaine use in adults does not pose a significant health risk, except in the case that it is used chronically and excessively," said Víctor Luna Escobedo, Tenth District Judge in Administrative Matters.

“This moderate consumption is up to half a gram daily, it must be in private spaces, without the presence of minors, without being able to take to work, drive vehicles, incite third parties or handle dangerous instruments or machines.

"Cocaine intake or consumption may have different purposes, including stress relief, intensification of perceptions or the desire for new personal and spiritual experiences"

Judgment of amparo 1205/2018 from  Judge Víctor Luna

Luna was based on the "positive" parts of a report rendered in December by the National Commission against Addictions that, when referring to the effects of low-dose cocaine use, listed:

"Improvement of mood, increased energy and reduced fatigue, increased muscle performance, decreased appetite, desire to speak, increased sexual desire, transient increase in self-esteem, anger and verbal aggression, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate. "

It is the first such ruling related to a drug other than marijuana, but the judge used exactly the same arguments that the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) has wielded since 2015 to grant amparos that allow the recreational consumption of the cannabis

Conadic also detailed the effects of excessive dose consumption and chronic cocaine use, but the judge put them aside, as he argued that not every consumer is a drug dependent.

"The moderate consumption of cocaine may not generate addiction," he added when declaring the absolute prohibition for this drug, provided for in the General Health Law, unconstitutional, as it is considered a disproportionate and unnecessary measure to protect health and public order.

Luna's sentence will not take effect while it is reviewed by a collegiate circuit court, which could request the intervention of the First Court Chamber to clarify whether its criteria on marijuana - which it put in the same plane as alcohol or tobacco- are applicable to other

In 2017, marijuana was legalized for medical and scientific purposes, and in November 2018 the Supreme Court ruled that a blanket ban on recreational use was unconstitutional, Reuters reports.

That same month, López Obrador's government submitted a bill that would allow recreational use and create a medical marijuana industry, according to Reuters.

For now, Cofepris grants permits to use marijuana on an individual basis.