STF has five votes to decriminalize possession of marijuana for consumption – News of Brazil
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The Federal Supreme Court (STF) counted this Thursday (24) five votes for the decriminalization of possession of marijuana for personal consumption.
Despite the votes cast, a request for a review (more time to analyze the case) made by Minister André Mendonça suspended the trial. There is no date for resumption.
The trial score is 5 votes to 1 for the decriminalization of marijuana possession for personal use. The plenary is formed by 11 ministers.
According to the votes cast so far, there is a majority of six votes to fix an amount of marijuana to characterize personal use, and not drug trafficking, which must be between 25 and 60 grams of marijuana or six female plants of cannabis. The amount will be defined when the trial is finalized.
The five votes for decriminalization were cast by ministers Gilmar Mendes, Edson Fachin, Luís Roberto Barroso, Alexandre de Moraes and the president, Rosa Weber
Minister Cristiano Zanin voted against decriminalization, but defended the setting of a maximum amount of marijuana to criminally separate users and dealers.
Wishes
Rosa Weber and Cristiano Zanin’s votes were the highlights of today’s session.
The minister decided to advance the vote on the issue after Mendonça asked for the trial to be suspended. In September, Rosa will retire on her 75th birthday and is unlikely to participate in the resumption of the trial.
The president said that maintaining the criminalization of possession is disproportionate and affects the privacy of users. In addition, the minister mentioned that criminalization leads to the incarceration of vulnerable people. The arguments were also cited by the other ministers.
“Our prisons are full of boys and girls, usually black, brown and, in the vast majority, are there because of trafficking”, he said.
The president also stressed that the Court’s decision is not encouraging drug consumption.
“I think that the STF can help in this solution, without prejudice to the performance of Congress. It was Congress who decriminalized the user in 2006. Only criminalization remains. The Supreme would take a step towards decriminalizing when it comes to personal use”, he added.
The only dissenting vote was given by Minister Cristiano Zanin. Despite acknowledging that the current penal system is flawed and does not apply decriminalization to poor, black and low-educated people, Zanin said that decriminalization presents “legal problems” and could aggravate the fight against drugs.
However, the minister voted to fix the amount of 25 grams of marijuana or six female plants of cannabis to configure the situation of personal use in police arrests.
Understand
The Supreme judges the constitutionality of Article 28 of the Drug Law (Law 11.343/2006). To differentiate users and dealers, the norm provides for alternative penalties for providing services to the community, warning about the effects of drugs and mandatory attendance at an educational course for those who acquire, transport or possess drugs for personal consumption.
The law ceased to provide for the prison sentence, but maintained criminalization. In this way, drug users are still targets of police investigation and judicial processes that seek the fulfillment of alternative sentences.
In the concrete case that motivated the trial, the defense of a convict asks that the possession of marijuana for personal use is no longer considered a crime. The accused was arrested with three grams of marijuana.
By André Richter – Agência Brasil
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