The Federal Supreme Court (STF) will resume this Wednesday (24) the judgment on the decriminalization of possession of drugs for personal consumption. Minister Gilmar Mendes is the case’s rapporteur.
The issue, which began to be discussed in 2015, has recognized general repercussions. That is, the understanding signed by the STF in this judgment should guide similar cases throughout the country.
So far there are three votes in favour. Gilmar Mendes understood that decriminalization should apply to all drugs. Justices Luís Roberto Barroso and Edson Fachin restricted their positions to the use of marijuana.
Next to vote is Alexandre de Moraes. In 2018 the magistrate returned the case for trial. The measure had been stalled since a request for a review by former Minister Teori Zavascki, in September 2015. Teori died in a plane crash in January 2017.
understand the case
Ministers analyze an appeal filed by the Public Defender of the State of São Paulo in favor of Francisco Benedito de Souza. In 2010, he was sentenced to two months of community service after being caught inside his cell at the Provisional Detention Center in Diadema (SP) with three grams of marijuana.
The Public Defender maintains that this criminal classification offends the constitutional principle of intimacy and private life. The judgment revolves around article 28 of the Drug Law, which provides penalties for those who “acquire, store, have in storage, transport or bring with them, for personal consumption, drugs without authorization or in disagreement with a legal determination”.
The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) expressed its support for the constitutionality of the article and for the criminalization of possession of drugs for personal use.
“The behavior of those who carry drugs for their own use, in itself, contributes to the spread of addiction in the social environment. The use of narcotics does not only affect the individual user, but also society as a whole, ”he said.
The PGR alleged that the Drug Law abolished the prison sentence for users caught with narcotics and recognized the need to provide the user with preventive and therapeutic treatment, but stressed that the National Congress chose to maintain the possession or possession of drugs as a crime for own consumption.
“Despite even the emergence of several currents defending the legalization of drugs, the fact is that not only trafficking but also the use of narcotics is a crime, which must be punished, considering its particularities, even with mild penalties. It is not possible, in short, to speak of the unconstitutionality of the device in question [artigo 28 da lei]”, concluded the PGR in its opinion.
(*Published by Douglas Porto with information from Teo Cury)
Source: CNN Brasil
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