By a majority of votes, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) decided on Tuesday (25) to decriminalize the possession of marijuana for personal use. The ruling concluded after nine years of successive suspensions. The number of ministers who voted for and against decriminalization has not yet been officially disclosed.
With the decision, the possession of marijuana remains an illicit behavior, meaning that smoking the drug in public is still prohibited, but the penalties defined against users will now be of an administrative nature, not criminal.
The STF has not yet defined the amount of marijuana that should characterize personal use and differentiate users from drug traffickers. According to the votes already cast, the measure should range between 25 and 60 grams or six female cannabis plants.
To differentiate users from traffickers, the rule provides for alternative penalties such as community service, warnings about the effects of drugs, and mandatory attendance at educational courses.
The law did not foresee any prison sentence but maintained criminalization. Thus, drug users remain targets of police investigations and legal proceedings aimed at applying alternative penalties.
The majority of the ministers decided to uphold the validity of the law but understood that the penalties provided for users should not be of a criminal nature.
It is not legalization
During the session, the president of the STF, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, emphasized that the Court is not deciding on the legalization of marijuana and that consumption remains an illicit conduct.
“At no point are we legalizing or saying that drug use is something positive. On the contrary, we are only deliberating on the best way to tackle this epidemic that exists in Brazil and whose adopted strategies are not working because consumption only increases the power of trafficking as well,” he stated.
Source: Agência Brasil