{"id":5144,"date":"2015-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.conectas.org.inf.br\/wp\/noticias\/first-step-2\/"},"modified":"2021-04-27T12:29:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T12:29:06","slug":"first-step-2","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/first-step-2\/","title":"First step","content":"

\"\"The historic judgment<\/u><\/a> that is underway in the Supreme Court and that could result in the decriminalization of drug possession for personal consumption in Brazil was interrupted on Thursday, August 20, after Justice Edson Fachin requested an adjournment. Before Fachin, the Special Appeal<\/u><\/a> submitted to the Court by the S\u00e3o Paulo Public Defender\u2019s Office received a favorable vote from Gilmar Mendes, the reporting justice in the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe criminalization of drug possession for personal consumption is unconstitutional,\u201d said Justice Mendes in reference to article 28 of the current Drug Law (11,343\/2006<\/u><\/a>).\u00a0\u201cIt is well known that drugs cause physical harm to the consumer. Nevertheless, treating drugs criminally is disproportionate,\u201d he concluded. According to the justice, anyone who takes the criminal approach as the first or only solution \u201cmakes things easier, but straightaway gives up looking for measures that more closely match the problem\u201d.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/u><\/a> to read the vote by Gilmar Mendes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Justice Mendes cited several studies on the topic, including those mentioned and analyzed in the amicus curiae brief<\/u><\/a> submitted to the Court by Conectas, Sou da Paz Institute, ITTC (Land, Employment and Citizenship Institute) and Pastoral Carcer\u00e1ria (the Catholic Church\u2019s prisoner outreach service). The brief, that presented the justices with independent technical opinions on the case being judged, can be accessed in full here<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Representing this group of organizations, the lawyer Rafael Cust\u00f3dio, coordinator of the Justice program at Conectas, made an oral statement to the justices expressing the facts and arguments contained in the amicus curiae brief.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis law, once again under debate in this Court, constitutes one of the main drivers of our policy of mass incarceration, which has given us the shameful distinction of having world\u2019s 4th largest prison population,\u201d said Cust\u00f3dio.\u00a0\u201cPeople of \u2018flesh and blood\u2019 hope that this Supreme Court will follow the tide of history, which today, in shame, is finally moving in pursuit of other drug policies: less abusive, less incarceratory and less selective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the full oral statement, made on Wednesday August 19:<\/strong><\/p>\n