The national prohibition of cannabis in Mexico: historical review of the relationship between law and science

This article documents and analyzes the drug laws that enabled and created the space for the implementation of a prohibitionist paradigm in Mexico. An increasingly punitive government posture was adopted during the period from 1917 to 1947, i.e., between the promulgation of the Constitution and the...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: José Domingo Schievenini Stefanoni
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2021
Country:México
Institution:UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE CIUDAD JUÁREZ
Repository:Nóesis. Revista de Ciencias Sociales
Language:Spanish
OAI Identifier:oai:oai:erevistas.uacj.mx:article/3966
Online Access:https://erevistas.uacj.mx/ojs/index.php/noesis/article/view/3966
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Historia de las drogas
prohibicionismo
degeneración
políticas públicas
cannabis
marihuana
delito.
History of drugs
prohibitionism
degeneration
public policy
marijuana.
Description
Summary:This article documents and analyzes the drug laws that enabled and created the space for the implementation of a prohibitionist paradigm in Mexico. An increasingly punitive government posture was adopted during the period from 1917 to 1947, i.e., between the promulgation of the Constitution and the incorporation of a series of reforms into the Federal Penal Code. The study and analysis of these laws required the documentation of scientific discussions surrounding the legislative process: discussions which sometimes supported and, at others, were critical of the government's position. Based on this review of the historical documentation—and within the framework of the initial domestic and international prohibitions of cannabis—medical and legal opinions are articulated, and the areas in which science and the law either coincided or entered into conflict are explored.