Mexico may be next to legalize cannabis: incoming FM

Mexico "absolutely" could follow Canada's lead in legalising marijuana as a way to reduce violence generated by a war on drugs that "doesn't work," its incoming foreign minister said Tuesday.

Marcelo Ebrard, who will become foreign minister when Mexico's president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes office December 1, said he discussed Ottawa's experience Monday with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Asked whether Mexico might follow Canada's example, Ebrard told reporters, "Sure, absolutely." "We think it is a very interesting option in the short term for Mexico," he said. "We think there are two options: the Canadian model or the Uruguay model."
"You spend a huge amount of money (on policing), you cause suffering for a lot of people and it doesn't make sense." Prohibition, he added, "doesn't work, you have the cannabis anyway."