The decision had been awaited for a decade. On Tuesday, June 25, the judges of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Brazil’s highest court, put an end to a very long suspense and decreed the decriminalization of cannabis for personal use. Possession of marijuana is now considered a simple offense, punishable by a warning issued by the police.
Eight of the institution’s eleven magistrates voted in favor of decriminalization, putting an end to a procedure begun in 2015. For the judges, it was a question of ruling on the constitutionality of a law adopted in 2006, considering it a crime the acquisition, retention or transportation of any type of drug for personal consumption. After examination, the STF finally decided to limit the debate to cannabis only.
The 2006 law did not punish personal drug use with prison sentences, preferring educational measures and community services. But the text did not define the amount of cannabis an individual could be considered a simple user or a drug trafficker, thus risking five to twenty years in prison. In the absence of objective criteria, the assessment was left to the police and judges.
According to its detractors, the text was thus the origin of numerous discriminations. ” And [l’individu] is black, poor and lives in the outskirts, so he is considered a trafficker. If he is rich and white, then he is considered a user”, summarized, on the X network, Erika Hilton, socialist MP, also trans and black, who was delighted with the judges’ decision. On Wednesday June 26, they set the maximum quantity of cannabis authorized for a user at 40 grams.
President Lula’s reservations
The judgment sparked fury from the conservative camp. ” The Decriminalization of marijuana is a tragedy for families and young people in Brazil »protested Altineu Côrtes, deputy of the Liberal Party (PL, far right), accusing the judges of having exceeded their duties. « The [STF] must exercise its role, which is very important, but must never legislate in place of Congress.”insisted Mr. Côrtes, spokesperson for radical evangelicals.
The elected official was listened to: in the wake of the STF’s decision, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (Progressive Party, PP, right), announced the establishment of a special commission responsible for studying the inclusion in the Constitution of the criminalization of the carrying, possession and use of drugs. A proposal welcomed by the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (Social Democratic Party, center): “By decriminalizing marijuana, the Federal Supreme Court has created a vacuum and broken legal logic”denounced the latter.
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