Legal context
The Americas include some of the world’s most advanced cannabis reforms alongside countries that still rely heavily on criminalisation and incarceration.
Health response (HRI 2024)
Harm Reduction International (2024) reports at least one operational service in Mexico: needle & syringe programmes, opioid agonist therapy, drug consumption rooms, take-home naloxone, peer naloxone distribution, safer smoking kits, stimulant prescription. National policy documents include an explicit supportive reference to harm reduction.
Youth leadership
Youth movements often connect drug policy to racial justice, indigenous rights, public health, safer nightlife and overdose prevention.
Supreme Court cannabis rulings; broader reform stalled.
Drug policy briefing
What young people should know about drug policy in Mexico
Decriminalisation
Threshold amounts + cannabis rulingsSmall quantities of several substances are non-criminal under the General Health Law; Supreme Court rulings have declared cannabis prohibition unconstitutional, but legislative implementation is pending.
Evidence · General Health Law; SCJN cannabis rulings.
Harm Reduction
Civil-society ledHarm reduction is largely delivered by civil society, with drug-checking and outreach services expanding in several cities.
Evidence · ReverdeSer Colectivo; Instrumenta.
Youth Participation
Active youth movementYouth-led organisations and SSDP Mexico shape federal and local reform proposals.
Evidence · SSDP Mexico; ReverdeSer.
Treatment Systems
Public + privateTreatment is delivered through CIJ and IMSS with a large private sector; standards vary widely.
Evidence · CONADIC; Centros de Integración Juvenil.
Sources · Harm Reduction International, Global State of Harm Reduction 2024 · UNODC · WHO · EMCDDA/EUDA · national laws and civil-society monitoring. Last reviewed Harm Reduction International 2024.
Start locally
No active SSDP chapter is listed for Mexico yet. Young people can start with peer education, coalition-building and the chapter starter pathway.
Open pathwayCompare policy
Use Policy Lab to compare Mexico with countries that have decriminalisation, harm reduction or youth-participation reforms.
Open pathwayFind support
If someone needs urgent medical, legal or crisis support, use the help pathway and contact qualified local services.
Open pathway