Government Opposition demonstrate against the easing on the anti-drug law by the Supreme Court STF

Government Opposition demonstrate against the easing on the anti-drug law by the Supreme Court STF

Rodrigo Valadares (União-SE) and Sanderson (PL-RS) say that the decision could be ‘gigantic’ with the eventual decriminalization of possession and use of drugs in Brazil

The Extraordinary Appeal judgement (RE) 635,659, which discusses the possibility of decriminalizing the possession of drugs for personal consumption, is scheduled for next Wednesday, 2nd, at the Federal Supreme Court (STF), and is mobilizing opposition among parliamentarians.

For them, the approval of the Law, which points to the exclusion of 25g of marijuana, could “strengthen trafficking in Brazil”. For federal deputies Rodrigo Valadares (União Brasil-SE) and Sanderson (PL-RS), the decision could be “gigantic” with an eventual decriminalization of possession and use of drugs in Brazil.

“It will be a tragedy announced, with a significant increase in consumption, the reflection on the health of users, in addition to the strengthening of trafficking, which will have its action facilitated insofar as they can use smaller dealers, called aviõezinhos, to carry small amounts of side to side”, says Valadares.

Sanderson, in another hand, assesses that the experience in other countries is not so positive and should not be reproduced.

“The examples we have from the few countries that have legalized drug consumption are disastrous. In Uruguay, for example, crime and violence have tripled since the use of marijuana was released in 2013. Furthermore, this matter could never be decided by the Judiciary, considering that this type of decision is the exclusive attribution of the Legislative Power” , explains.

The trial which will discuss, whether the personal consumption of drugs is a crime or not is scheduled for Wednesday. A request for review in 2015, by Minister Teori Zavascki (who died in 2017 after a plane crash), suspended the judgment of the Extraordinary Appeal (RE) against the decision of the Appeals College of the Special Civil Court of Diadema (SP), whose result will have large repercussions, that is, it will be valid as a new rule for the entire country. Ministers Edson Fachin and Luís Roberto Barroso had already voted, in addition to rapporteur Gilmar Mendes.

Fachin defended the declaration of unconstitutionality of article 28 of Law 11.343/2006, which criminalizes the possession of drugs for personal consumption, restricting his vote to marijuana, a drug seized from the author of the appeal.

Barroso, also limited his vote to the decriminalization of the drug object of the RE and proposed that the possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana or the planting of up to six female plants be benchmarks to differentiate between consumption and trafficking. These criteria would be valid until the National Congress regulates the matter.

Source:Jovem Pan