Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday voted to decriminalize possession of marijuana for personal use, according to the Associated Press.
With final votes cast on Tuesday, a majority of the justices on the 11-person court have voted in favor of decriminalization since deliberations began in 2015. The justices must also determine the maximum quantity of marijuana that would be characterized as being for personal use and when the ruling will enter into effect, which is expected to be finished as early as Wednesday.
All the justices who have voted in favor said decriminalization should be restricted to possession of marijuana in amounts suitable for personal use, with distribution remaining illegal.
In 2006, Brazil’s Congress approved a law that sought to punish individuals caught carrying small amounts of drugs, including marijuana, with alternative penalties such as community service, states the AP. Experts say the law was too vague and didn’t establish a specific quantity to help law enforcement and judges differentiate personal use from drug trafficking.
Police continued to arrest people carrying small quantities of drugs on trafficking charges and Brazil’s prison population continued to swell.
“The majority of pre-trial detainees and those convicted of drug trafficking in Brazil are first-time offenders, who carried small amounts of illicit substance with them, caught in routine police operations, unarmed and with no evidence of any relationship with organized crime,” said Ilona Szabó, president of Igarapé Institute, a think tank focusing on public security.
Congress has responded to the top court’s ongoing deliberations by separately advancing a proposal to tighten drug legislation, which would complicate the legal picture surrounding marijuana possession.
In April, the Senate approved a constitutional amendment criminalizing possession of any quantity of illicit substance. The lower house’s constitutional committee approved the proposal on June 12, and it will need to pass through at least one other committee before going to a floor vote.
If lawmakers pass such a measure, the legislation would take precedence over the top court’s ruling but still could be challenged on constitutional grounds.
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