Therapeutic use of cannabis and morality policies: disputes and controversies in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches

Resumen

Observing the rapid changes regarding the topic of the therapeutic use of cannabis and its disputes in Brazil, this paper addresses the turnaround that has occurred in recent years in the health sphere related to the uses of the plant for therapeutic purposes. Considering that the public debate on the implementation of a morality policy is permeated by tensions, conflicts and controversies, it is clear that there is a great moral dispute that configures a split between the definition of cannabis as a therapeutic product and as an illicit drug. Based on a qualitative methodology, texts, videos, images and some interviews were conducted with health professionals were analyzed. These materials, treated as important factors in contemporary social and political life, were analyzed as social artifacts, because by changing the legal status of the cannabis plant by guaranteeing access to the right to health, they also end up allowing cultivation on national soil, causing other diverse social effects. Therefore, it was observed that institutions of the Executive Branch, such as the National Health Surveillance Agency and the Federal Council of Medicine, issued some resolutions that changed the status of the plant by making it a therapeutic possibility, but always relying on scientific evidence to justify their positions. In relation to the Judiciary Branch, the changes occurred through Habeas Corpus, safe conducts and other decisions that mainly concern the permission to cultivate a plant banned in Brazil for use as a health therapy. Although it has followed and still follows a path mainly through the legal and executive channels, the debate began in the Legislative Branch in 2014, where among many projects, Bill 399 of 2015 was the one that gained the most notoriety, but this debate has been stagnant for almost five years in the National Congress.