The five judges of the sixth room of the STJ, guardian of the uniform interpretation of federal laws, unanimously agreed that the three people can cultivate and extract the oil from the marijuana plant to alleviate their ailments, including insomnia, anxiety or sequelae. of cancer.
Although planting marijuana is prohibited and penalized in Brazil, the authorities of the Latin American giant allow the importation of medicines that have cannabis components and some people have received authorizations for self-cultivation for medicinal purposes.
“The artisanal production of oil for therapeutic purposes does not represent a risk of injury to public health or any other legal asset protected by anti-drug legislation,” the STJ said in a statement.
The magistrates responded in this way to two different judicial requests from the trio of patients, who were already using cannabidiol -a compound of the herb used for different medicines- after the Brazilian health regulatory agency, Anvisa, authorized them to import the substance.
The plaintiffs alleged difficulties in continuing the treatment due to the high costs of bringing the products from abroad.
“Criminal prosecution must be avoided” against people who produce oil by hand for medicinal purposes, when they have a medical prescription and the endorsement of Anvisa to import it, said the ruling judge, Rogerio Schietti, according to the STJ note.
Schietti questioned that the Ministry of Health and Anvisa had not regulated the home cultivation of the plant for medical uses and highlighted the impact of these products “on the health and well-being of many Brazilians.”
“The discourse contrary to the possibility of cultivation is a moralistic discourse that often has a religious stamp, based on dogmas, false truths, stigmas,” he said, in statements collected by the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.
The Brazilian president, the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, has attacked the medicinal use of marijuana, even warning that he would veto legislative projects that seek its authorization.
In Latin America, several countries such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico allow in some way the use of medicinal cannabis, whose efficacy for certain ailments is recognized by the WHO.
