Federal Judge In Brazil Rules Cannabis Prohibition Unconstitutional
A federal judge in Brazil has ruled that cannabis prohibition is unconstitutional, claiming it to be the result of a “backward culture and mistaken policy.”
The ruling, made by Judge Ernesto Frederico Cardoso Maciel, came as the result of a case in which a man was caught carrying 46 grams of cannabis, packed into 52 different bundles; he was arrested and charged for cannabis distribution.
Judge Maciel, however, acquitted the man, claiming that since cannabis prohibition isn’t a legal policy, the man should be free to go.
In his ruling, Maciel called cannabis prohibition “incoherent”, while also noting the hypocrisy in the fact that “other narcotic substances, such as alcohol and tobacco, are not only permitted and sold, generating millions in profit for the entrepreneurs of the branches, but worshiped and consumed by the population”.
“This has set a precedent to discuss the legality of marijuana”, says attorney Jurandir Soares de Carvalho Junior, who represented the accused individual. “[He] knows what he is talking about”.
– TheJointBlog