The Brazil Superior Court of Justice has given authorization to three patients to cultivate cannabis for medical purposes.
The landmark decision came this Tuesday, as the five-judge panel voted unanimously to permit home cultivation and extraction in order to manage the patients’ pain symptoms.
Home cannabis cultivation is still currently illegal in Brazil, putting patients looking to manage their own medicine in a precarious position in the eyes of the law.
However, this week’s court ruling will likely lead to a deluge of patients across the country similarly applying for the same authorization to better access cannabis medicine.
Brazil’s Justice Court Votes in Favour of Cannabis Patients
Whilst it is possible for certain patients to access cannabis medicine in Brazil, access remains low, meaning that Brazilians often have to turn to the illicit market.
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, there were protests on June 11, with citizens campaigning nationwide to overhaul the current mechanisms for accessing cannabis medicine.
The public outcry clearly resonated with the five-judge panel, with Judge Rogério Schietti citing government shortcomings in clarifying their scientific position on the issue as the key to the court’s ruling.
Quoted in AP News, Schietti explained that “The discourse against this possibility is moralistic. It often has a religious nature, based on dogmas, on false truths, stigmas”.
Continuing, Schietti said “Let us stop this prejudice, this moralism that delays the development of this issue at the legislative, and many times clouds the minds of Brazilian judges.”
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