Brazil’s High Court Rules Pro-Marijuana Marches Can Take Place BRASILIA – The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled that marches in favor of the legalization of marijuana can take place, overturning lower-court decisions. The justices voted 8-0 on Wednesday to allow the marches, ruling that freedom of expression and the right to assemble were basic rights that must be respected by authorities. The marches are not criminal apologies for drug use and do not promote drug trafficking, the high court said. The marches provide a way for citizens to exercise the right to freedom of expression, Justice Celso de Mello said. “Nothing proves more harmful and dangerous than the desire of the state to repress freedom of expression, especially of ideas that the majority repudiate. Thought should always be free,” De Mello said. The high court, however, refused to discuss the possibility of legalizing the use of marijuana for medicinal and religious purposes, as had been requested by the Brazilian Association for Studies of the Social Use of Psychoactives, or Abesup. The pro-legalization marches started in 2002 in Rio de Janeiro and later spread to cities across Brazil. Several state courts ruled that the marches should be banned starting in 2008 even though the protests never drew more than a few hundred people. The courts based their decisions on the argument that the marches provided a justification for drug use. EFE
Posted on: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 06:29:33 +0000
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