{"id":37837,"date":"2023-05-24T17:52:56","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T17:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=litigiopt&#038;p=37837"},"modified":"2023-06-28T21:08:32","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T21:08:32","slug":"supreme-court-special-appeal-challenges-decriminalization-of-drug-possession-for-personal-use","status":"publish","type":"litigiopt","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/litigiopt\/supreme-court-special-appeal-challenges-decriminalization-of-drug-possession-for-personal-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court: Special Appeal challenges decriminalization of drug possession for personal use"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tts_content_wrapper_1\" ><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court is analyzing a Special Appeal (RE 635659) that discusses whether drug possession for personal consumption should be a crime. The case first began to be heard in 2015, but it was suspended after an adjournment.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To date, three of the eleven court justices have cast their votes: the rapporteur of the case, Justice Gilmar Mendes, who voted in favor of the decriminalization of all drugs; and the justices Luiz Edson Fachin and Lu\u00eds Roberto Barroso, who both voted in favor of the decriminalization of marijuana.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the vote in 2015, Justice Barroso defended that a person could possess up to 25 grams of marijuana without being considered a drug dealer and also that each user could grow a maximum of six female plants. It is likely, however, that the other justices will vote that setting this kind of criteria is the responsibility of the National Congress.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2015, the lawyer Rafael Cust\u00f3dio, who used to represent Conectas, ITTC (Land, Labor and Citizenship Institute), Pastoral Carcer\u00e1ria (the Catholic Church\u2019s prisoner outreach service) and the Sou da Paz Institute, made a statement in the Supreme Court during the judgment on the decriminalization of drug possession for personal use.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe war on drugs is, in fact, a war on people [&#8230;] it comes with, as a key element, the need for the uninterrupted expansion of the punitive power of the State,\u201d said the lawyer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the court rules on the unconstitutionality of article 28 of Law 11,343\/2006, Brazil will be one of the last countries in Latin America to stop treating drug users as criminals. In Latin America, Brazil, Suriname and the Guianas are alone in considering drug possession for personal use as a crime.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Technical information:<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Case:&nbsp;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Special Appeal 635,659 with General Repercussion (Topic 506)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Court:&nbsp;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Supreme Court<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Status:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;Being heard<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Procedure:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">02\/22\/2011 \u2013 Case is filed&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">12\/09\/2011 \u2013 General repercussion is recognized<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">06\/05\/2012 \u2013 Organizations admitted as amici curiae<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">05\/24\/2023 \u2013 Case schedule<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><div class=\"tts__custom-position_bottom_fixed\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"featured_media":668,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"temaltigio":[12276],"categoria_litigio":[],"class_list":["post-37837","litigiopt","type-litigiopt","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","temaltigio-confronting-institutional-violence"],"acf":{"subtitle-pt":"The case first began to be heard in 2015, but was suspended for nearly 8 years after adjournment","links_para_referencia":[{"titulo-referencia":"Keep track of the case on the website of the Supreme Court","arquivo_referencia":false,"link_externo":"https:\/\/portal.stf.jus.br\/processos\/detalhe.asp?incidente=4034145"},{"titulo-referencia":"Watch the oral statement by Rafael Cust\u00f3dio","arquivo_referencia":false,"link_externo":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=320&v=W4qAwypG3Ik&embeds_referring_euri=http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%3A10016%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title"}],"noticias":{"noticia1":{"ID":18663,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2019-10-07 00:30:11","post_date_gmt":"2019-10-07 00:30:11","post_content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The discussion on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/noticias\/opiniao-descriminalizacao-do-consumo-de-drogas-no-stf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">decriminalisation of the possession of drugs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for personal use which started in 2015 was suspended due to a request for examination of the case by Minister Teori Zavascki, who died in 2017.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before the suspension, three of the eleven ministers had already declared their votes: the Rapporteur Gilmar Mendes, who came out in favour of the decriminalisation of all drugs and Ministers Luiz Edson Fachin and Lu\u00eds Roberto Barroso who were in favour of decriminalising marijuana.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The debate was due to be resumed on 5 June 2019, but following an agreement between President Jair Bolsonaro, the Senate, the Chamber and the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Minister Dias Toffoli decided to postpone the discussion indefinitely.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A survey carried out by Ag\u00eancia P\u00fablica, analysing 4 thousand sentences for trafficking in S\u00e3o Paulo showed that black people are convicted for trafficking more than white people, even when they are in possession of smaller quantities of drugs. The study \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pris\u00e3o Provis\u00f3ria e Lei de Drogas<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d (Pre-trial Detention and Drugs Law)\u00a0 by the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">N\u00facleo de Estudos da Viol\u00eancia<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Centre for Studies on Violence) at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP), also reiterated the fact that the profile of people in prison for trafficking are young brown or black men, between 18 and 29 years old, who only completed primary school and who have no criminal record.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understanding the importance of the impact of decriminalisation on society:<\/span>\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li><b><i> Decriminalisation is not the same as legalisation, or lifting regulations<\/i><\/b><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c\u2018Lifting regulations\u2019 is a term used by prohibitionists to infer that we want to remove all controls.\u201d Explained the Unicamp Psychiatrist, Lu\u00eds Fernando T\u00f3foli, who is also a member of the S\u00e3o Paulo State Board for Public Policies on Drugs. The STF decision is actually about the decriminalisation for the possession of drugs.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The idea is to stop treating users like criminals, although in some cases a person may be subject to punishment, like payment of a fine, for example. Once outside the sphere of criminal law, a problematic user would have easier access to the health service, instead of being sent to jail. Legalisation, on the other hand, is what happens in the case of substances like alcohol and tobacco, the trade and production of which are regulated by public power.<\/span>\r\n<ol start=\"2\">\r\n \t<li><b><\/b><b><i>Brazil is one of the few Latin American countries that still treats the possession of drugs as a crime<\/i><\/b><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Latin America, only Brazil, Suriname and the Guyanas criminalise the possession of drugs for personal use. In places like Paraguay and Colombia, people have been allowed to be in possession of illicit substances since 1988 and 1994, respectively. Uruguay became a benchmark in 2013 when it created a system to regulate the entire cycle of marijuana consumption thus bringing it under state control. The possession of other drugs had already been decriminalised in the country since 1974.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2018, Alicia Barcena, Head of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reiterated the importance of thinking of new alternatives to the drugs policy in the region. \u201cLatin America must give serious thought to legalising drugs in order to reduce the human cost of prohibition. Tens of thousands of people across Latin America have died in violence stemming from the struggle to control the lucrative trade in narcotics, particularly in Mexico, where murders fuelled by warring drug cartels reached a record high last year.\u201d She said.<\/span>\r\n<ol start=\"3\">\r\n \t<li><b><\/b><b><i>There is no drug epidemic in Brazil<\/i><\/b><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the most common arguments used by prohibitionist political sectors \u2014 whose greatest exponent is the Minister for Citizenship, Osmar Terra \u2014 is that we are experiencing a drug epidemic. This would justify taking extreme measures like the involuntary hospitalisation of problematic users and intensifying imprisonment. The point is that this data this is unfounded. According to research at Fiocruz, the number of crack users in the country is 208 thousand, well below the 370 thousand identified in an earlier study at the foundation. This study also shows that only 1.5% and 0.3% of people said they had used marijuana and cocaine, respectively, in the previous 30 days.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the government has not published the data produced by the study, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3\u00ba Levantamento Nacional Domiciliar sobre o Uso de Drogas<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, concluded in 2016 and carried out at the request of the Ministry of Justice. The Fiocruz document, that contradicts the stance of both the Temer and Bolsonaro governments, was revealed in April 2019 by the site The Intercept. Officially, the government alleges flaws in the methodology of the research that cost the public coffers around R$7 million.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<ol start=\"4\">\r\n \t<li><b><\/b><b><i>Users are treated like traffickers in the legal system<\/i><\/b><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People who are arrested in possession of drugs can be classified as traffickers or users. As there is no objective criteria of definition, the person who makes this decision is usually the chief of police, who often accepts police officers\u2019 statements as indisputable proof. A study carried out by Ag\u00eancia P\u00fablica showed that, for arrests for up to 10 grams of marijuana, cocaine or crack, in 83.7% of cases the only witnesses heard were the police officers themselves. 59% of convictions were under these conditions, while 44% took place with civil witnesses.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A survey by the S\u00e3o Paulo government showed that, in the state alone, the number of people sent to prison has more than quadrupled in the last 25 years, reaching 235,775 people, making Brazil the country with the third highest detention rate in the world, behind the United States and China. Data from the Justice Ministry and the Secretary for Penitentiary Administration, in 2018, revealed that one third of men and two thirds of women in prison are there for drug trafficking.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to researchers at the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">N\u00facleo de Estudos da Viol\u00eancia<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at USP, like Bruno Paes Manso and Camila Nunes Dias, authors of the book \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Guerra: A ascens\u00e3o do PCC e o mundo do crime no Brasil<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d (The War: the rise of the PCC and the world of crime in Brazil), it is mass incarceration itself that contributes to strengthening organised crime.<\/span>\r\n<ol start=\"5\">\r\n \t<li><b> <\/b><b><i>Black lives matter<\/i><\/b><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A study carried out by Ag\u00eancia P\u00fablica, that analysed 4 thousand sentences for trafficking in S\u00e3o Paulo, showed that black people are convicted for trafficking more than white people, even when they are in possession of smaller quantities of drugs. The study \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pris\u00e3o Provis\u00f3ria e Lei de Drogas<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d, by the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">N\u00facleo de Estudos da Viol\u00eancia<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at USP, also reiterated the fact that the profile of people in prison for trafficking are young brown or black men, between 18 and 29 years old, who only completed primary school education and who have no criminal record.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the conclusion of the study, the researchers state that: \u201cThe principal consequence of this combative policy has been the creation of a large number of young people with police and criminal records, carrying the stigma produced by prison.\u201d According to the Historian, Eduardo Ribeiro, who is Coordinator on the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Iniciativa Negra por Uma Nova Pol\u00edtica<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Black Initiative for a New Policy), criminalisation not only fails to stop use, but also contributes to the genocide of the black population.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>#DescriminalizaSTF\u00a0<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With your help, we want to show ministers the urgent need to make progress in drugs policy. Help us to put pressure on the STF to vote for the decriminalisation of drugs.<\/span>","post_title":"5 reasons to decriminalise the possession of drugs for personal use","post_excerpt":"Understanding the importance and impact of decriminalisation on society","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"5-reasons-to-descriminalise-the-possession-of-drugs-for-personal-use","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-04-05 13:44:46","post_modified_gmt":"2021-04-05 13:44:46","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&#038;p=18663","menu_order":2021,"post_type":"noticia","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},"noticia2":{"ID":18611,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2019-10-07 00:05:47","post_date_gmt":"2019-10-07 00:05:47","post_content":"<a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/noticias\/liberdade-para-rafael\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rafael Braga<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a young black favela-dweller who used to be a waste picker, was the only person convicted as a result of arrests made at the June 2013 demonstrations. He was caught with sealed bottles of disinfectant and bleach, under the allegation that he was in possession of explosive materials. This led to him becoming a symbol of arbitrary imprisonment in Brazil.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The symbol was further reinforced six months later when the police stopped him while he was under partial house arrest and wearing an electronic tag round his ankle. There were no witnesses and he was taken into custody for drug trafficking and for being involved with drug trafficking, after he left his house to visit his mother. At the police station, the former waste picker was presented with 0.6 grams of marijuana, 9.3 grams of cocaine and a firework that the police said were his. Five years on, Braga was acquitted of the crime of being involved with drug trafficking, but is still serving a sentence, under house arrest, for drug trafficking.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe war on drugs is actually a war on people.\u201d Said the lawyer Rafael Cust\u00f3dio, former representative for Conectas, ITTC (Institute, Land, Labour and Citizenship), Pastoral Carcer\u00e1ria and the Sou da Paz Institute, at the ruling on the decriminalisation of possession of drugs for personal use at the Supreme Federal Court in 2015. \u201c[The war on drugs] is intrinsically the need for the relentless expansion of the state\u2019s punitive power.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During his submission, the lawyer cited research that reveals the target of anti-drug sentencing in Brazil \u2013 youths, between 18 and 29 years old, black, whose education did not go beyond primary school and who have no criminal record. In addition, in general, the accused is arrested when alone, unarmed and carrying a small quantity of drugs and without any kind of police intelligence work for imprisonment. \u201cIn other words, it is empirically proven that in fact, the Brazilian anti-drugs law works as a mechanism for criminalising poverty.\u201d Cust\u00f3dio said. Rafael Braga is just the best known example of this.<\/span>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=320&amp;v=W4qAwypG3Ik\r\n\r\n<b>The background of voting<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">STF discussions on decriminalisation started in 2015, but were suspended following a request for examination of the case by the Minister Teori Zavascki, who died in 2017. At the time, three of the eleven ministers had already declared their votes - the Rapporteur Gilmar Mendes, who had voted in favour of decriminalising all kinds of drugs and the Ministers Luiz Edson Fachin and Lu\u00eds Roberto Barroso who had both voted in favour of decriminalising marijuana.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The debate was to be resumed on 5 June 2019, but following meetings with President Jair Bolsonaro and the President of the Chamber, Rodrigo Maia and the President of the Senate, David Alcolumbre, the leader of the STF, Minister Dias Toffoli decided to remove this discussion from the agenda and did not set a date for it to be resumed.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If it is decided that article 28 of Act 11.343\/2006 is unconstitutional, Brazil will be one of the last Latin American countries to cease to treat users as criminals. In the region, Brazil, Suriname and the Guianas are the only countries that treat the possession of drugs for personal use as a crime.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18248\" src=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/CONECTAS_Mapa_20190613-1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" \/>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Decriminalisation in South America<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The STF debate should not be affected by the Chamber\u2019s bill of law 37, that was passed by the Senate on 15 May and which modifies the National Drugs Policy. But it is meeting with resistance, in that the bill of law put together by the former federal congressman Osmar Terra (current Minister for Citizenship), in 2010 tightens anti-drugs policy, provides for the possibility of detention for up to three months, in detriment to the policy of damage limitation and strengthens therapeutic communities, who will be entitled to tax free public funding, even though violations of religious freedom and forced labour have been reported at several units, as confirmed by the Federal Board of Psychology and the Federal Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Repudiation notes regarding Osmar Terra\u2019s bill of law were published by around 50 institutions like the Human Rights Commission of the OAB-SP (Sao Paulo Bar Association), the Brazilian Association for Mental Health, the Federal Board of Psychology, the Brazilian Forum on Public Security and the National Pastoral Carcer\u00e1ria.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>Clarification of the debate on drugs<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Going deeper into the issue, specialists reinforce the need to understand the difference between the terms \u2018legalisation\u2019 and \u2018decriminalisation\u2019. \u201cThe idea of decriminalisation is to remove users from the sphere of criminal law.\u201d Explained Lu\u00eds Fernando T\u00f3foli, Psychiatrist at Unicamp and a member of the State Board on Public Policy on Drugs in S\u00e3o Paulo, at a meeting with journalists, held by Conectas. \u201cThis is not enough, but it is the first, much-needed, step. This opens the way for broader discussion.\u201d Therefore, the idea is not to make the production and sale of drugs legal, like alcohol, tobacco and medication.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the lawyer Cristiano Maronna, Executive Secretary at PBPD (The Brazilian Platform for Drugs Policy), one of the current challenges is to clarify the debate. This is complex in a scenario that bans damage limitation (rooted in caring for freedom and respect for autonomy) and makes abstinence the only therapeutic goal. \u201cWe have a flat Earth drugs policy, with absolutely no scientific basis. In this case Osmar\u2019s flat Earth.\u201d Said Maronna, referring to Minister Osmar Terra.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A lack of clarification in the debate could have disastrous consequences, according to the lawyer. \u201cOur principal concern is the mass detention of people who use drugs, because we know that that target is a specific one.\u201d Explained Maronna. In his view, the treatment of crack users, using in public, is not the same as that of an \u201cexecutive who snorts cocaine in his office on Paulista Avenue.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18518\" src=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/CONECTAS_Infogr\u00e1fico02-v2_20190604.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400\" \/>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Percentual de presos por trafico<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A PBPD study of the profiles of users assisted by the programme <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">De Bra\u00e7os Abertos<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (With Open Arms), in Cracol\u00e2ndia, in S\u00e3o Paulo, showed that crack is not the cause, but rather the consequence of exclusion. Or, as the Columbia University Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Carl Hart said, in an interview with Drauzio Varella: \u201cCracol\u00e2ndia doesn\u2019t have much to do with crack. It has to do with a lack of economic opportunity and the discrepancy in education.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the idea defended by conservative sectors of the policy in Brazil, is that country is experiencing a drug epidemic which can be used to justify extreme measures. But this idea has no basis, as proved by the 3rd National Survey on the Brazilian Population\u2019s Use of Drugs, carried out by Fiocruz, that showed that the countrywide figures for crack users, for example, is 208 thousand, less than the 370 thousand recorded in previous years.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The study, requested by the National Secretary on Drugs Policies (Senad), a body that is linked to the Justice Ministry, cost the public coffers R$7 million and was censured by the government and is still embargoed. Minister Osmar Terra stated that he does not trust research by Fiocruz, despite the foundation testifying to its research methodology.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to anti-prohibition experts, there is an urgent need to treat problematic users within the health system, not the criminal one. For this reason, they are defending the point of view that decriminalisation of all drugs would be more effective than decriminalisation of just one of them, ie marijuana, a point of view supported by Ministers Luiz Edson Fachin and Lu\u00eds Roberto Barroso.<\/span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<b>Criteria and a lack of criteria<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cristiano Maronna also talks about the \u201ccomplex manoeuvres in interpretation\u201d to justify incrimination for being in possession of drugs. \u201cThey say that somebody who is in possession of drugs, even if this is for personal use, is putting public health at risk because this behaviour represents a potential risk of increased consumption that could lead to an epidemic of dependency in society.\u201d He explained.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem is that, according to one of the principles of criminal law, in order for someone to be sent to prison their conduct must harm a third person, as in cases of murder or theft, for example. This does not apply to the personal use of drugs, in which the victim and perpetrator are the same person.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is also the issue of the lack of criteria for judging what is trafficking and what is personal use, which leads to increased imprisonment. A survey by the Sao Paulo government, published in May, showed that in Sao Paulo alone, the number of people sent to prison has more than quadrupled in the last 25 years, reaching 235,775 people, making Brazil the country with the third highest detention rate in the world, behind the United States and China. Justice Ministry and Penitentiary Administration data from 2018, revealed that one third of men and two thirds of women in prison are there for drug trafficking.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cCriteria and lack of criteria.\u201d Said Maronna. When there is not enough proof for the act of selling drugs, judges usually place greater store on police statements, which Maronna calls the \u2018queen of proof\u2019. Research by Ag\u00eancia P\u00fablica, that analysed 4 thousand sentences for trafficking in S\u00e3o Paulo, showed that, when up to 10 grams of marijuana, cocaine or crack are seized, in 83.7% of cases the only witnesses heard were the police officers themselves. 59% of convictions were under these conditions, while 44% took place with civil witnesses.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18251\" src=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/CONECTAS_Infogr\u00e1fico03_20190604.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" \/>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tipos de testemunha ouvidos no processo<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to research by the Brazilian Jurimetrics Association, since law 11.343, known as the Drugs Act, was created in 2006, introducing a new policy on illicit substances, the proportion of people imprisoned for trafficking jumped from 15.5% in 2007 to 25.5% in 2013.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lack of objective criteria to define who is a trafficker and who is a user contributes to the high rate of imprisonments. \u201cTo be accused on the basis of being either a user or a trafficker is the luck of the draw.\u201d Maronna said. He says that this is why one of the greatest merits of the Drugs Act is to protect the elite and criminalise the poor, which is the best example of how our prison system works badly and selectively.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 2015 vote, Minister Barroso stood up for the idea that a person could be in possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana, without being considered to be a trafficker as well as being able to grow a maximum of six plants per user. However, the tendency is for other ministers to decide that fixing criteria is the responsibility of the National Congress.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>A question of race<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given the lack of clear definition, it is not surprising that the claim made on the basis of the Ministry survey shows that more black people are convicted for trafficking than white people, even though they possess smaller quantities of drugs.\u00a0 \u201cStrictly speaking judges do not judge based on race, but this racist slant and disdain for poverty appear indirectly in sentences.\u201d Said the Psychiatrist Luis Fernando T\u00f3foli.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Historian, Eduardo Ribeiro, Coordinator at INNPD (Black Initiative for a New Drugs Policy), highlights that there is \u201cracial discrimination contained in words,\u201d, that occurs when, without mentioning the trafficker\u2019s colour, there is an association with black people. \u201cThis has a profound impact on STF debates.\u201d He explained.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ribeiro gives the example of a sentence by Minister Barroso: \u201cCrack changes the equation of the drugs problem because it transforms people into a body without a soul.\u201d \u201cAlthough he does not talk about black crack users, he is drawing on an idea from the colonial period of black people without souls, the first status of the people captured for slavery.\u201d Ribeiro explained.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Historian also recalls a declaration made by Cassandra Frederick, at the North American NGO, Drug Policy Alliance, when she said that \u201cwhite needs drive changes in the law for their own benefit.\u201d \u201cIf we look at advances in the debate on access to therapeutic marijuana, for example, we see that this is white people solving their own problems.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Historian, Ribeiro recalled other innovations that are not widely discussed, regarding intensification of imprisonment, caused by criminalisation and a lack of objective criteria. One of these is the increase in genetic mapping. In February, the Minister for Justice and Public Security, Sergio Moro, included an increase in the current DNA database on prisoners, in his anti-crime bill of law, increasing the length of time that genetic profiles can be kept, after a sentence has been completed, by 20 years and creating a file with biometric data, with fingerprints and face, iris and voice recognition.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18250\" src=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/CONECTAS_Infogr\u00e1fico01_20190604.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" \/><\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c[Given that the black community suffers more imprisonment] we shall return to the end of the 19th century, when Nina Rodrigues said that black people have a greater propensity for crime. The fact that there are more black people on the genetic database could drive the return of this debate based on a naturalist perspective.\u201d Ribeiro reckons.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the Historian, as well failing to prevent the use of illicit substances, which are already widely used, criminalisation destroys black lives and makes generations of children socially accustomed to the language of violence. \u201cWhen we boycott an entire group of people, from childhood into adult life, we can call this genocide.\u201d He concludes. \u201cObviously we want article 28 to be recognised as unconstitutional, but we have to know where we want to go from here.\u201d Otherwise, the decision of the STF, even if it is in favour of decriminalisation, will not have any affect at all on the lives of those who are most punished by the law.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>#DescriminalizaSTF\u00a0<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With your help, we want to show ministers the urgent need to make progress in drugs policy. Click<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.drogastf.com.br\/\"><b>here<\/b><\/a><b>\u00a0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sign the petition to help us to put pressure on the STF to vote for the decriminalisation of drugs.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<img class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/assine_a_peti\u00e7\u00e3o.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"44\" \/>","post_title":"Descriminaliza STF: why it is necessary to decriminalise possession of drugs for personal use","post_excerpt":"The discussion about decriminalisation in the Supreme Federal Court started in 2015, but was suspended because of a request for examination of the case by Minister Teori Zavascki, who died in 2017.\r\n","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"descriminaliza-stf-why-it-is-necessary-to-decriminalise-possession-of-drugs-for-personal-use","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-04-05 13:45:46","post_modified_gmt":"2021-04-05 13:45:46","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&#038;p=18611","menu_order":2025,"post_type":"noticia","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},"noticia3":{"ID":31716,"post_author":"26","post_date":"2021-05-07 14:54:55","post_date_gmt":"2021-05-07 14:54:55","post_content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In March, senators and deputies in New York passed a bill of law regulating the recreational use of cannabis, making it the 17th state in the United States to fully legalise cannabis. Now, only 12 states still have some level of legal restriction, although medicinal use is allowed. On sanctioning the proposal, the governor Andrew Cuomo,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.ny.gov\/news\/governor-cuomo-signs-legislation-legalizing-adult-use-cannabis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">called it a historic day<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, as it \u201crights the wrongs of the past, by putting an end to harsh prison sentences, embraces an industry that will grow the Empire State\u00b4s economy and prioritises marginalised communities so those that have suffered most will be the first to reap the benefits\u201d.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Mexico, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate also approved a bill of law that could mean the country will become the third in the world to authorise domestic trade of the plant, after Uruguay and Canada.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because of some changes in deputies, the bill has to be seen by senators again before presidential sanction. The consumption of cannabis was decriminalised in Mexico by a Supreme Court decision, decades ago. What is being considered now is the legalisation of trade and production.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Read more:<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/noticias\/estados-americanos-avancam-para-por-fim-a-guerra-as-drogas\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAmerican states move forward in putting an end to the War on Drugs\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/5-reasons-to-descriminalise-the-possession-of-drugs-for-personal-use\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5 reasons to decriminalise the possession of drugs for personal use<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Brazil, a policy of prohibition is still in place. The discussion about decriminalisation that started in the STF (Supreme Federal Court) in 2015 was suspended. In 2019, the court considered resuming the subject but the matter was removed from the agenda with no plan to bring it back. In South America, only Suriname and the Guianas follow the same policy.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe are going against the worldwide trend, by adopting an active approach of curbing any possibility of drug use, even medicinal or therapeutic.\u201d Stated lawyer Henrique Apolinario, of the Conectas programme, Facing Institutional Violence. \u201cThe examples given (New York and Mexico) are of regulated access to cannabis, through which control of the market by the state, taxation and the construction of policies based on social factors and public health are made possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The current government stand is contributing to deterioration in the health of people who depend on cannabis-based medication for their treatment. In February, an action led by Anvisa (National Agency for Public Health) put the lives of around 14 thousand patients at risk by trying to prevent the work of Abrace (Brazilian Association Cannabis Hope) an NGO in Paraiba that has had judicial authorisation since 2017 to plant cannabis and produce medication for the treatment of diseases like Parkinson\u00b4s and epilepsy.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The agency\u00b4s action sparked a campaign on social networks that gained the support of artists, like Rita Lee. \u201cAfter I started using cannabis oil for raging scoliosis I finally managed to walk normally without pain. I\u00b4m begging Anvisa to recognise the seriousness of Abrace\u00b4s work and to understand that it needs to continue,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=11&amp;v=S2b6Mc3rRwY&amp;feature=emb_logo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the singer said<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following the online mobilisation, the court made a U-turn and suspended the repeal in March. But other institutions, like Apepi (Support and Research Association for Patients of Medicinal Cannabis) in Rio de Janeiro and Cultive in S\u00e3o Paulo are still facing problems. All five of the principle associations of this type in Brazil are under appeal.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Apolin\u00e1rio, the case is an illustration of the necropolitics being cruelly adopted by the current government. \u201cAn organisation that assists so many people in a socially sustainable way, reducing suffering and bringing health to people in the whole of Brazil being attacked by Anvisa just goes to show the inconsequential nature of the current measures.\u201d He said.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apart from the medicinal issue, by fostering excessive incarceration, the policy of prohibition has become one of the principal causes of the generational boycott of the black population, as it mainly affects the most vulnerable sectors of society. There is a good reason why the state of New York is planning to invest 40% of the tax from marijuana in communities made up of social minorities.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe earnings from any regulatory measure, above all trade, must be directed to these communities. Furthermore, the end of the so-called war on drugs requires a process of transitional justice.\u201d\u00a0 Said Apolin\u00e1rio. As he recalls, the policy of prohibition is no more than a pretext to increasingly marginalise populations that are already stigmatised. \u201cThe so-called war on drugs is, in fact, a war on black people.\u201d<\/span>","post_title":"Cannabis in Brazil and around the world: the country\u2019s stance and the harm caused by the war on drugs","post_excerpt":"In March, senators and deputies in New York passed a bill of law regulating the recreational use of cannabis, making it the 17th state in the United States to fully legalise cannabis.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"cannabis-in-brazil-and-around-the-world-the-countrys-stance-and-the-harm-caused-by-the-war-on-drugs","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-05-18 15:04:00","post_modified_gmt":"2021-05-18 15:04:00","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&#038;p=31716","menu_order":70,"post_type":"noticia","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}}},"yoast":{"focuskw":"drug possession","title":"","metadesc":"The case first began to be heard in 2015, but was suspended for nearly 8 years after adjournment","linkdex":"60","metakeywords":"","meta-robots-noindex":"","meta-robots-nofollow":"","meta-robots-adv":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","opengraph-title":"","opengraph-description":"","opengraph-image":"","twitter-title":"","twitter-description":"","twitter-image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/litigiopt\/37837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/litigiopt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/litigiopt"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"temaltigio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/temaltigio?post=37837"},{"taxonomy":"categoria_litigio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categoria_litigio?post=37837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}