Organisations call for Supreme Federal Court to judge again on the decriminalisation of drugs

In a joint letter, organisations highlight the urgent need for judgment on possession of drugs for personal use, removed from the agenda by the president, minister Dias Toffoli.

Supreme Court President, minister, Dias Toffoli removed a repeal on the decriminalisation of drugs possession for personal use from the agenda (Photo: STF)

Representatives from 14 organisations sent a joint letter to the president of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), minister Dias Toffoli, requesting that the Court put the vote for Extraordinary Appeal number 635.659 back on the agenda. This is to judge the unconstitutionality of article 28 of the Drugs Law. The article in question regards the possession of drugs for personal consumption as a crime. The vote had been suspended since 2015 and minister Alexandre de Moraes had announced it would take place on 5 June.

A few days before the scheduled date, the president of the Supreme Court informed that the judgment would be removed from the Court agenda, claiming that a bill of law in the Chamber, recently approved by the National Congress, would modify the Drugs Law and that this would compromise the vote on the appeal by the STF. The PLC 37, sanctioned by president Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday, along with other measures, allows for the compulsory hospitalisation of drug addicts and an increase in the minimum sentence for drug traffickers in command of organised crime, but does not bear any relation to the issue being judged by the Supreme Court.

The request sent to the president of the Supreme Court by the organisations stresses the urgent need for this item to remain on the agenda and calls for swift judgment. “It is with this in mind and in the face of the importance and the potential impact that the decision to be presented by the full court of the STF will have on the functioning of all aspects of the criminal justice system, from police patrols to the most varied of judicial bodies, that we present this letter alerting Your Excellency to the need to ensure this process is given due attention and to the urgent need to examine the issues contained herein,” the letter stresses.

Read the letter in full.