Ex-Mexico president calls for NAFTA-like international MJ trade

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox called for cannabis to be included in international deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Speaking to reporters Tuesday before delivering a keynote address at the National Cannabis Industry Association conference in Oakland, California, Fox predicted the rise of a legal Mexican marijuana market that will lead to exporting and also said the barriers to international cannabis trade should be as low as possible.

“Now this new, newly born industry, economic sector, is already larger in jobs, larger in sales … than many other economic sectors in many other industries, and it’s just the beginning,” Fox said. “Now (Mexico is) going to be an exporting economy, and that … should be one of the areas to negotiate in NAFTA. This product should be included in NAFTA. No barriers, no trade barriers, no taxes.”

“That’s what we should do, and I’m sure that’s what we’re going to do,” Fox added.

Mexico has moved toward legalizing MMJ this year, with the passage of a bill that would allow for low-THC medical cannabis. Various news outlets reported that current Mexican President Pena Nieto is expected to sign the measure into law.

But Fox – who previously predicted Mexico would legalize marijuana by 2018 – intimated his nation will eventually approve recreational cannabis simply because sharing a border with California’s adult-use market could prove untenable.

“Imagine the border between Tijuana and San Diego, where one side is already legalized and the other one does not, which would be Mexico,” Fox said. “It would be crazy, that border. I mean, you cannot envision and sustain what it would be if one prohibits and the other one allows.”