In the world · Cannabis · 26 June 2024
Brazil's STF and marijuana possession: RE 635,659
In June 2024, Brazil's STF stopped treating possession of up to 40 g of marijuana for personal use as a crime. It is not legalization; medical rules stand.
bairogonzalez.com team, drawing on Bairo's story · Published
On June 26, 2024, Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) concluded the judgment of Extraordinary Appeal 635,659 and set the thesis for Theme 506: possessing marijuana for personal use is no longer a crime and becomes an administrative offense. Until Congress legislates, anyone with up to 40 grams or six female plants is presumed to be a user. The decision does not legalize the drug and does not change the rules for medical cannabis, which remain with Anvisa.
What happened
The judgment dragged on for years before it was concluded. The rapporteur was Justice Gilmar Mendes. According to Agência Brasil, the majority for decriminalization was six votes to three.
What the STF decided, in practical terms:
- possession for personal consumption remains prohibited, but the consequence is no longer criminal and becomes administrative: a warning about the drug's effects and an educational measure, with no criminal record;
- 40 grams or six female plants become the criterion for presuming that a person is a user, and not a trafficker;
- this presumption is rebuttable: police may seize the drug and take the person to the police station even below the limit, if there are signs of trade, such as scales, packaging or sales records;
- smoking in public places remains prohibited;
- the rule applies until Congress defines the matter in law.
In July 2024, the Supreme Court sent the decision to the Legislature, signaling that the final word on drug policy also belongs to Congress.
Why it matters
The central point of the judgment was the distance between the law and practice. The 2006 Drug Law already provided different penalties for users and traffickers, but did not say how to distinguish one from the other. In practice, the same quantity could be treated as use in one neighborhood and as trafficking in another. The objective 40-gram criterion tries to reduce that arbitrariness.
For those following medical cannabis, the decision has an important indirect effect: it helps separate debates that are often mixed up. One thing is criminal policy on personal use. Another is access to cannabis products with a prescription, sanitary control and scientific evidence. The STF dealt with the criminal question. The sanitary question remains governed by Anvisa, by the 2026 resolutions and by the STJ's 2024 decision on cultivation by companies.
Mixing the two subjects harms both. A patient who uses a prescribed product is not a recreational user, and the debate on drugs should not be decided with poorly explained health arguments.
In Bairo's view
For Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez, the Supreme Court's decision is an example of why serious information matters. In his reading, much of the fear and prejudice around cannabis comes from confusion between uses, rules and risks. When everything becomes a single word, the patient who needs treatment ends up paying for the stigma of a debate that is not theirs.
Bairo treats cannabis as a field of access and science, which is why he makes a point of not confusing the conversations. For him, the STF's decision is neither a banner nor an invitation. It is a legal fact that needs to be explained precisely, without exaggeration in either direction. Saying what changed and what did not is, in his view, a form of respect for the reader.
Where this meets the ecosystem
Xperienc Global Labs, founded by Bairo in London, deals with cannabis exclusively from the medical and scientific side: laboratories, teleconsultation with a clinical assistant validated by a professional and the Global Language translator for a second clinical opinion, not a medical report. It does not talk about product, brand or dose to the public, as Brazilian rules require.
SOSPROCESSOS, another front conceived by Bairo and under development, proposes helping lawyers analyze decisions and legal scenarios. A thesis of general repercussion such as Theme 506 is exactly the kind of information that needs to reach those defending someone in organized form, always with a lawyer leading the case.
The scientific part is in The plant and the science. This text explains a decision; for a concrete situation, consult a lawyer.
Sources
- STF, "STF define 40 gramas de maconha como critério para diferenciar usuário de traficante" (STF sets 40 grams of marijuana as the criterion to distinguish user from trafficker), 06/26/2024: noticias.stf.jus.br
- Agência Brasil, "Entenda a decisão do STF sobre descriminalização do porte de maconha" (Understand the STF decision on decriminalizing marijuana possession), Jun. 2024: agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br
- Consultor Jurídico, "STF estabelece 40 gramas para diferenciar uso e tráfico e fixa tese sobre maconha" (STF sets 40 grams to distinguish use from trafficking and establishes thesis on marijuana), 06/26/2024: conjur.com.br
- Agência Brasil, "STF envia ao Legislativo decisão que descriminalizou porte de maconha" (STF sends to the Legislature the decision that decriminalized marijuana possession), Jul. 2024: agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br