The Supreme Court in Brazil is debating whether citizens have the right to consume drugs, and is considering decriminalizing the activity, reports Latin Times.
Possession of drugs – including marijuana, is a criminal offence in Brazil, even in small amounts.
Image Credit: Ian Sane (Flickr)
For some Brazilian judges, the laws on marijuana possession don’t make much sense. Two judges on the bench have argued for the decriminalization of all drugs – not just marijuana. Judge Luís Roberto Barroso compared the criminalization of personal drug use to a dictatorship.
He said:
“The state has every right to combat the use [of drugs], to mount media campaigns, to create warnings, but to punish [drug use] with imprisonment is a form of authoritarianism that prevents the individual from making individual choices.”
If Barroso’s opinion is shared by the majority, it will be ruled that possession of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs is no longer a crime, if intended for personal use.
Drug trafficking will still be considered a crime.
Drug offense lawyers in Thailand Chaninat and Leeds have decades of experience successfully advising and handling drug cases in Thailand.
Recent years have seen other countries experimenting with the legalization of marijuana, including some states in the US.
Neighboring Uruguay has seen heroin use fall by 50% following its decriminalization.
In concordance with Barroso, Judge Luiz Edson Fachin argues that drug users should be viewed as victims, not criminals.
“Those dependent on drugs are victims and not the seed of the crime [and] should be received as sick people,” he said.
Brazil’s Attorney General has been critical of the debate, apparently saying that people don’t have a “constitutional right to get high.”
Debate continues, with clarification on matters such as how to define “personal use” required. A ruling is expected next week.
For more on this story, see here and here.
For drug laws in Thailand, see here for information on Thailand’s Narcotic Control Act, and the Psychotropic Substances Act.
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