Image copyright Reuters Image caption The ruling only applies to growing marijuana for recreational use for a certain group 
 
 A narrow ruling by Mexico's Supreme Court could eventually clear a path to make recreational use of marijuana legal. 
 
 Four people in the Mexican Society for Responsible and Tolerant Personal Use will now be permitted to grow and smoke their own marijuana. 
 
 Marijuana still cannot be sold in Mexico but some say the court's ruling could lead to full legalisation. 
 
 Mexico has long struggled with violent conflict from drug cartels. 
 
 The advocacy group first brought the case forward in 2013, seeking permission to grow plants for recreational use. 
 
 The court voted 4-1 that prohibiting people from growing the drug for consumption was unconstitutional. 
 
 At the scene: Katy Watson, BBC News Mexico City 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Mexico has been under pressure to loosen its stance on drugs 
 
 In a country that faces drug violence on a massive scale, this is a significant ruling. Although the ruling only applies to the individuals who brought the case to the Supreme Court, activists see this as a huge first step. 
 
 Armando Santacruz was one of the plaintiffs. A prominent businessman here in Mexico, he has spearheaded the campaign and told me he sees this as opening the door to many more cases. 
 
 But Mexicans are divided when it comes to the legalization of drugs. Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto has been firmly against any change to drug policy so the battle to legalise marijuana here has only just begun. 
 
 It could set a legal precedent for future rulings concerning the use and sales of marijuana. 
 
 People celebrated the ruling by smoking joints outside of the Supreme Court building. 
 
 "If ... this supreme court is taking such an important step toward legalization of drugs, or at least some of them, I suggest that we are equally careful and responsible in crafting a ruling of the same magnitude," said Judge Jose Ramon Cossio, who voted in favour of the measure. 
 
 There are tens of thousands of drug-related killings in the country every year. 
 
 The country has been pressured to loosen its drug laws after the US made the drug legal in certain states. 
 
 In 2009, Mexico made it legal to carry up to 5 grams (.18oz) of marijuana. ||||| Growing, possession, and smoking the drug deemed acceptable in decision that applies only to plaintiffs and does not approve sale of the substance 
 
 Mexico’s supreme court has ruled that sections of the country’s health law are invalid, legalizing the growing, possession and use of marijuana for recreational purposes. 
 
 Although it covers only the plaintiffs in one case, activists say the ruling paves the way for Mexico to make history and end drug prohibition, in spite of social stigmas, a deadly drug war and strong opposition from politicians and the Catholic church. 
 
 The first bench of the supreme court granted an injunction allowing four members of the Mexican Society for Responsible and Tolerant Self-Consumption (Smart) to grow, transport and smoke marijuana. 
 
 In a 4-1 ruling, the court found that prohibitions on using marijuana violated the “right to the free development of personality” – and were therefore unconstitutional. 
 
 “If these are unconstitutional for us, they should be unconstitutional for the entire population,” said Francisco Torres Landa, a lawyer and one of the four complainants winning the court case. 
 
 
 
 “Our long-term goal is that everything should be regulated,” he added. “None of us is seeking to have consumption be the real object … The goal is to make sure we create the basis to have the ability to challenge the actual basis for prohibition.” 
 
 
 
 The move potentially puts Mexico at the forefront of an international movement to decriminalize drugs – despite a decade-long militarized crackdown on drug cartels which has cost the lives of around 100,000 people. 
 
 If the court rules the same way on five similar petitions, it would then establish the precedent to change the law and allow general recreational use. 
 
 A similar process led to the court’s recent ruling that Mexican laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. 
 
 Asked about the ruling president Enrique Peña Nieto told reporters that it “opens ample space for a debate on marijuana. 
 
 “It’s not new. I’ve made pronouncements previously of the need for a broad debate on the public policies [with marijuana] and when we are seeing that in other parts of the world marijuana consumption has been legalised. 
 
 “This does not open or in any way signify the legalisation of marijuana consumption, nor the commercialisation, nor the transportation of it.” 
 
 Although Mexico has long been a major supplier of narcotics to the US, it had until recently not considered itself as a consumer of illegal drugs. Analysts say that started to change when cartels started paying underlings in product. 
 
 
 
 But drug reform activists say that the use of drugs has little to do with the bloodletting unleashed by the dealers. 
 
 “Many people associate violence with consumption,” said Leopoldo Rivera, publisher of a cannabis culture magazine Cáñamo México. “Violence doesn’t impact consumers. It has to do with the drug trafficking.” 
 
 
 
 The court debated a proposal put forward in October by Justice Arturo Zaldlívar, who wrote in his opinion: “Marijuana does not pose a significant health risk, since its permanent consequences are unlikely, minimal or reversible.” 
 
 He added: “There is uncertainty about the claim that marijuana encourages the commission of other crimes.” 
 
 His opinion runs counter to Mexican sentiments on marijuana. An October poll from the Parametría firm found 77% of Mexicans opposed to legalizing marijuana, with just 20% in favor. 
 
 President Enrique Peña Nieto has opposed decriminalizing marijuana, but welcomed debate. He told the New York Times prior his 2012 election that he had never tried marijuana. 
 
 
 
 Mexico’s conservative Catholic Church also expressed its preoccupation. 
 
 
 
 “It’s not a debate in Congress, not a debate in society, it’s only in the court as if it’s a super power, which assumes positions that affect the entire country,” said Father Hugo Valdemar, Archdiocese of Mexico City spokesman. He deemed the ruling “unnecessary” since Mexico already allows the possession of five grams of marijuana or less. 
 
 
 
 Rivera calls that amount “about two fat joints” and says purchasing marijuana is still prohibited. He says Mexican lawmakers have showed little interest in legislating on the issue. 
 
 
 
 “It’s not chic. It’s not a sexy issue for them,” he said. “It’s not one that wins votes for them.” 
 
 
 
 Mexico recently allowed medical marijuana to be used with an eight-year-old girl suffering seizures caused by a rare disease to be the first patient. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

– A landmark Supreme Court ruling in Mexico has legalized recreational marijuana for four people, a decision that could open the door to legal pot for another 122 million Mexicans. The court's 4-1 decision found that banning marijuana violated the constitutional right "to the free development of personality" of the four plaintiffs from a group called the Mexican Society for Responsible and Tolerant Consumption, the Guardian reports. The four, including prominent businessman Armando Santacruz, will now be allowed to grow marijuana and smoke it, reports the BBC. For pot to become legal for all Mexicans, the court will have to rule the same way in five similar cases, the Guardian notes. Pot smoking isn't as widespread in Mexico as it is in the US, and the government is firmly opposed to legalization, but advocates say it makes little sense for Mexicans to be locked up or killed in cartel violence over a substance that's gradually being legalized north of the border, reports the New York Times. "We are killing ourselves to stop the production of something that is heading to the US, where it’s legal," Santacruz tells the Times, adding that bad regulation "is better than whatever regulation El Chapo and the narcos can provide." (On Tuesday, Ohio voters rejected a legalization measure that would have established a "marijuana monopoly.")