In the world · Cannabis · 13 November 2024
STJ allows companies to grow medical hemp
In November 2024, Brazil's STJ ruled that companies may grow hemp with up to 0.3% THC for medical purposes. The decision that led to the 2026 RDCs.
bairogonzalez.com team, drawing on Bairo's story · Published
On November 13, 2024, the First Section of Brazil's Superior Court of Justice (STJ) ruled that companies may obtain authorization to plant, process and sell industrial hemp, the variety of cannabis with THC content below 0.3%, exclusively for medicinal and pharmaceutical purposes. The court gave the federal government and Anvisa a deadline to regulate. The answer came with the Anvisa resolutions published in February 2026.
What happened
The case was decided as an incident of assumption of jurisdiction, IAC 16, in Special Appeal 2,024,250, with Justice Regina Helena Costa as rapporteur. The ruling applies to all similar cases in the country.
The central reasoning was technical. According to the rapporteur, in hemp the THC concentration usually stays below 0.3%, which makes the plant incapable of producing a psychotropic effect. For that reason, it is not to be confused with the marijuana covered by the Drug Law. The justice also pointed out the practical problem: with domestic production prohibited, patients depended on imported products, expensive and out of reach for many people.
The decision set clear limits. Still excluded are:
- cultivation by individuals;
- any purpose that is not medicinal or pharmaceutical;
- recreational use.
The initial deadline was six months, counted from the publication of the judgment, on November 19, 2024. It was debated and extended throughout 2025. In November of that year, the STJ unanimously approved a new action plan, with intermediate phases, and set March 31, 2026, as the final date, according to Migalhas. Before that, on January 28, 2026, Anvisa's board approved the new rules, published on February 3.
Why it matters
For years, Brazil authorized the use of cannabis products without authorizing the cultivation that produces them. The result was an entire chain dependent on imports, with prices in dollars and little predictability. The STJ decision broke this deadlock by an unusual route: it was not a law from Congress or an initiative of the agency, but a court order with a deadline.
During the proceedings themselves, the rapporteur treated the case as structural litigation, the kind in which the court does not resolve everything in one judgment and follows, step by step, the government's construction of the solution. That is how the 2024 decision became RDC 1,013/2026, which regulates cultivation with up to 0.3% THC by companies with special authorization, prior inspection and traceability.
For patients, the effect is not immediate. Growing, extracting, manufacturing and registering take time. But the direction is toward a chain that is closer, better supervised and, over time, potentially more accessible.
In Bairo's view
Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez follows this movement as someone who knows up close the weight of a no. In his reading, the story of hemp in Brazil repeats a pattern he recognizes in his own path: what was treated as impossible for a long time ended up becoming a rule, and a rule with controls.
For Bairo, the most important point of the decision is not the plant itself. It is the criterion. The STJ separated what science shows, a THC content with no psychotropic effect, from what prejudice had mixed together. This is the same separation he advocates for the whole conversation about cannabis: distinguishing what has evidence from what is still a hypothesis, and saying both with the same clarity.
He also sees in the decision a reminder about access. When the medicine depends on imports, those who cannot pay are left out. In his view, regulation, science and access need to move together.
Where this meets the ecosystem
Xperienc Global Labs, founded by Bairo in London, is a biotechnology research and development company that has medical cannabis as a field of study. Xperienc's proposal is to integrate laboratories, teleconsultation with a clinical assistant validated by a professional and instant translation for a second clinical opinion. A regulated domestic chain, with traceability, is the kind of environment in which serious research can grow.
The requirement for traceability from planting to dispensing also speaks to the verifiable record proposed by BTZ Chain, as a vision for the future and not as a service in operation.
To understand what science already knows and what is still being studied, read The plant and the science. This text explains the decision; for your case, the one who guides you is a doctor and, if needed, a lawyer.
Sources
- STJ, "STJ valida cultivo medicinal da cannabis por empresas e dá prazo para regulamentação" (STJ validates medical cannabis cultivation by companies and sets a deadline for regulation), 11/14/2024: stj.jus.br
- Migalhas, "STJ prorroga prazo para regulamentar cultivo medicinal da cannabis" (STJ extends deadline to regulate medical cannabis cultivation), 11/11/2025: migalhas.com.br
- Anvisa, on the deadline extension, 11/07/2025: gov.br/anvisa
- Anvisa, "Anvisa publica regras para produção de cannabis medicinal" (Anvisa publishes rules for medical cannabis production), 02/03/2026: gov.br/anvisa