The Supreme Court of Brazil ruled on Tuesday June 25 by a large majority in favor of the decriminalization of the possession of cannabis for personal use, during a bitter trial which deeply divides the society of the largest country in Latin America.
Eight out of eleven judges voted for the possession of cannabis to no longer be subject to criminal sanctions while remaining “an unlawful act”.
Not legalized
The president of Brazil’s highest court, Luis Roberto Barroso, clarified that this decision did not mean “in no case legalization” cannabis in Brazil.
The judges must still set the maximum quantity authorized for the possession of cannabis for personal consumption, during a new session scheduled for Wednesday.
This long-term trial began in 2015 and has been interrupted several times.
One offense so far
Current legislation, which dates from 2006, considers it an offense “the acquisition, possession or transport of drugs without authorization”. This offense is provided for in the penal code, but is no longer punishable by imprisonment as was the case in the previous text, which provided for a sentence of six months to two years’ imprisonment.
The 2006 text does not stipulate up to what quantity of cannabis an individual can be considered a simple user — punished by alternative penalties, such as services of general interest — and not a trafficker, who incurs heavy penalties. . This assessment is left to the police, the prosecution or the judges of first instance, without any real objective criterion.
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Discriminations
During the trial, in August 2023, judge Alexandre de Moraes denounced the fact that “young people, especially black people, are considered traffickers if they are arrested in possession of much smaller quantities of drugs than white people over 30”.
This subject remains highly controversial in Brazil, where conservative movements are firmly opposed to any decriminalization. The Senate approved in April a text to enshrine in the Constitution that possession of any quantity of drugs constitutes an offense, including cannabis. This amendment to the Constitution must be examined soon by the Chamber of Deputies.
Its use for medicinal purposes is also the subject of debate in Brazil, where patients have had to go to court to obtain the right to use it for treatments based on CBD, the non-psychotropic molecule of cannabis, for certain forms. severe epilepsy.
Many countries have decriminalized the recreational use of cannabis, waiving prison sentences for users, but fewer have legalized it, such as Uruguay in 2013 or Germany in February.
Read also: Thailand backtracks on cannabis decriminalization
