Regulatory Framework · 2.3 Decriminalization of Personal Use

Full compliance with the definitional criterion.

Mexico has an explicit legal definition of maximum allowable quantities for personal and immediate consumption through the Orientation Table of Maximum Doses established in Article 479 of the General Health Law. The table sets concrete thresholds for specific substances: opium, heroin, cannabis, cocaine, LSD, MDA, MDMA, and methamphetamine. This definition is not merely programmatic or interpretive; it is a national legal rule that quantitatively delimits when possession may fall within the personal and immediate consumption framework.

Article 478 of the General Health Law directly connects those thresholds to non-prosecution when a consumer or drug-dependent person possesses one of the narcotics listed in the table in an amount equal to or below the established limit and outside the exclusions provided by the law itself. The 2009 reform decree provides normative traceability for the incorporation of this small-scale drug-dealing framework, while the Federal Criminal Code complements the criminal-law reading by distinguishing conduct related to possession, supply, commerce, and narcotics.

Supreme Court evidence confirms that the Article 479 table has been subject to constitutional review and judicial interpretation, including criteria on simple possession and possession of two or more narcotics listed in the table. These sources do not create or update the quantities, but they reinforce that the table operates as a concrete legal reference within Mexico’s criminal and health-law framework.

The territorial review does not alter the federal nature of the indicator. Mexico City provides evidence of local application of the simple-possession and small-scale drug-dealing regime in initial hearings, while Puebla, Oaxaca, and Chiapas are correctly delimited as not applicable for their own normative definition, since federal entities do not establish the national maximum-quantity table.

The main limitation identified is that no consolidated evidence was located regarding periodic review, updated scientific calibration, or a transparent administrative mechanism to adjust the Article 479 thresholds. This gap affects the quality and technical updating of the normative design, but not the existence of the definitional criterion being evaluated.

In conclusion, Mexico fully meets the indicator because it has a national, explicit, and quantitative legal table of maximum doses for personal and immediate consumption. X is not activated because no indicator-specific international cooperation linked to domestic implementation was identified.