Actors Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal were among the 67 Mexican artists, politicians, intellectuals and attorneys who signed a petition requesting full decriminalization of marijuana consumption, Fox News Latino reported.
The petition was published in several dailies and was signed by writers Juan Villoro, Javier Sicilia and Ángeles Mastretta, former Health Secretary Julio Frenk, and attorneys Agustín Acosta and Fernando Gómez Mont, among others.
The Mexican celebrities pointed out marijuana is far less addictive than tobacco. They also claimed legalizing marijuana would help decrease criminal activity in the country. "Criminalization increases the (street) price of drugs," while the country's drug cartels get much of their revenue from marijuana sales, they said.
"This exorbitant income is used to purchase weapons, pay hitmen, and bribe public officials. Decriminalization would reduce that income, which is not replaceable by other organized crime activities (kidnapping, extortion and robbery)," said the petition.
"Mexico has paid a high price for applying the punitive policy of prohibition," the petition said , according to Fox News Latino. It added that although "neither decriminalization nor any other individual measure is a panacea that will do away with violence, corruption and insecurity," this push is "a step in the right direction."
Mr Luna is currently trying to take his career to the next level by making a name for himself in the United States. He reunited with longtime friend García Bernal (with whom he starred in the critically acclaimed film "Y Tu Mamá También") in 2012's Spanish language comedy "Casa de Mi Padre," which also featured actor Will Ferrell.
Last year, the 33-year-old artist began directing his first English-language film, American labor leader César Chavez's biopic, "Chávez," about the life of the founder of the United Farm Workers.
On August, García Bernal, who is an international ambassador for Oxfam, visited a group of refugees in the outskirts of Amman, the Jordanian capital, where he was shooting his latest film, "Rosewater." The actor asked Syrian authorities to put an end to the ongoing conflict that killed more than 100,000 people.
During the visit, the 34-year-old actor called on world leaders to urgently find a solution to the Syrian crisis. "For more than two and half years, Syrian citizens have been forced to flee their country, where an average of at least 5,000 people are dying each month," said Bernal.
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