�������ýҕ�l

Lawmakers in Mexico approved a bill Wednesday night to legalize recreational marijuana, a milestone for the country, which is in the throes of a drug war and could become the world’s largest cannabis market, leaving the United States between two pot-selling neighbors. The 316-to-129 vote in Mexico’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, came more than two years after the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that the country’s ban on recreational marijuana was unconstitutional and more than three years after the country legalized medicinal cannabis. (Lopez, 3/10)

Mexico’s lower house of Congress on Wednesday approved a bill that would decriminalize cannabis for recreational, medical and scientific uses, bringing it a step closer to creating one of the world’s largest markets for the plant. Backed by the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the bill marks a major shift in a country bedeviled for years by violence between feuding drug cartels. Lawmakers approved the bill in general with 316 votes in favor and 127 against. Now, the Senate needs to review and approve the bill. (Oré, 3/10)

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday the government is studying what to do about growers of opium poppies who have been hit by competition from synthetic opioids, suggesting that some sort of legalization scheme might be possible. Asked about legalizing marijuana production — a bill for which is now before Congress — López Obrador said the question also involves opium poppies grown illegally in some parts of Mexico to make heroin. “As far as commercializing marijuana and opium poppies, the decision has been made to undertake a thorough study of these crops,” López Obrador said. (3/8)

The European Medicines Agency said Thursday that Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine is safe and effective to use in everyone over the age of 18. That paves the way for the European Commission to grant the American vaccine a conditional marketing authorization later Thursday. It will be the fourth vaccine approved in the EU after BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford/AstraZeneca. (Deutsch, 3/11)

Denmark has announced that it will temporarily suspend the use of the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. The Danish Health Authority said Thursday that it would temporarily stop using the shot in its vaccination program as a precaution “after reports of severe cases of blood clots in people who have been vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca.” (Ellyatt, 3/11)

While the world is understandably focused on countering the coronavirus pandemic, a secondary global public health crisis has been brewing: a drop-off in vaccination rates against a range of other dangerous infectious diseases. A year ago, when much of the world’s population began to socially distance to reduce the spread of COVID-19, an unfortunate consequence of that countermeasure was a steep decline in the number of children receiving their routine vaccinations for diseases such as measles, rubella and polio. (Oswald, 3/10)