Mexico allows first four people to grow, consume marijuana

The Mexican government on Friday ruled that four Mexican people were now allowed to plant, grow and use marijuana for their own purposes, local media reported.

The four people belong to the Mexican Society for Responsible and Tolerant Personal Use (SMART), a group that advocates complete marijuana legalization, as it believes that it would help to reduce drug trafficking and associated violence, which has caused over 100,000 deaths or cases of missing since 2006.

This move came five weeks after the Mexican Supreme Court ruled in favor of the same group, stating that using marijuana should be the right of all Mexicans.

Though advocates of marijuana legalization were quick to hail the decision, Cofepris, Mexico's health watchdog, explained that this ruling only granted the right to the four people.

In a statement released Friday, Cofepris explained that marijuana remains illegal and this ruling "could not be used to harm others," adding that smoking marijuana "could not be done in the presence of children or married women...or in public places where others have not given their consent."

One of the four men, Juan Francisco Torres Landa, told the press on Friday that "the idea is to change government policy, not promote consumption (of marijuana). We want to provide an example. We will not be consuming marijuana ourselves." Endi