Brazil is not only about the Rio Carnival or Christ the Redeemer, but Brazil’s decision to approve cannabis-based products has also caught the attention of marijuana lovers. Here in this article, you will have all the information to Buy Cannabis Seeds in Brazil.
The tendency to look at marijuana in Brazil is gradually changing with growing investment in cannabis and other narcotics’ medicinal benefits.
Nevertheless, in local terms, Brazil may be arriving late, with both Uruguay and Colombia having authorized medical marijuana and actively operating toward achieving a firm foothold in the booming multibillion-dollar global cannabis market.
Despite Brazil’s restrictive view concerning the production and trade of cannabis-related goods, it is now taking small moves towards the legalization of some aspects of the utilization and sale of marijuana products—putting the nation in the center of debates around this topic.
Let’s have a look at marijuana history in Brazil!
Marijuana History in Brazil
Contents
It’s not understood precisely when marijuana first entered Brazil. Some specialists suggest that it was brought into the nation with the African laborers, who smuggled seeds in via the trappings of rag-dolls. It’s also feasible that Portuguese colonists who used it recreationally introduced it.
The plant was used extensively in colonial eras. It was utilized across the social classes, and even by the Portuguese Royal Court.
According to old folklore, in 1817, Queen Carlota Joaquina, the wife of Emperor Dom Joao VI, then King of Portugal, was on death bed. She asked her servant to “bring a mixture of the fibers of damba do amazonas,” and was delivered a blend of cannabis and arsenic. This union supposedly numbed the discomfort while she was dying.
In the 1800s, slave-owners criticized weed for the reduced productivity of their slaves and asked for it to be banned.
Rio de Janeiro became the first region in the world to prohibit its use in 1830, with punishments for offenders. Historians think that the penalties were reserved mainly for Afro-Brazilians.
Brazil was conducive to supporting other nations to ban marijuana too. At a League of Nations meeting in 1925, Doctor Pernambuco Filho e Gotuzzo mentioned marijuana as “more dangerous than opium.”
This gathering is now seen as a significant turning point for marijuana laws across the world, with other Latin American nations banning it shortly afterward.
From 2006-2017, Brazil’s prisons’ population increased heavily at an over 80% expansion rate, with 26.5% of male prisoners and 62% of female prisoners serving minor drug custody.
The residents marched past summer to protest the immoral and unnecessary arrest of many people in Brazil for possessing and burning a small amount of marijuana, even if only for easing the pain.
Since 2015, Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (The National Health Surveillance Agency), also known as ANVISA, has granted the importation of cannabidiol-based medications and other cannabinoids for private usage.
The nation has also granted the prescription of marijuana products no higher than 0.2% THC since 2015. However, this was only for terminally ill cases or those who have tried all the other treatment alternatives.
Marijuana Legalization in Brazil
The Brazilian administration sees hemp as a form of marijuana. That’s why it’s illegal to cultivate hemp in the country, and there is no hemp business in Brazil.
I – warning on the effects of drugs;
II – community service;
III – educational measure of participating in an educational program or courseArticle 28 of Brazilian Drug Law no. 11.343/2006
ANVISA, The National Health Surveillance Agency, by its turn, is not against the utilization of cannabis for medical purposes.
In 2015, ANVISA removed cannabidiol, generally known as CBD, from a listing of prohibited items in Brazil and entered it instead in a list of controlled objects, understanding its healing effect in an original way.
In Brazil, CBD is legal. However, it’s seen as a medicine, not a supplement, and is only accessible with a prescription.
HempsMed is the first organization to export CBD oil to Brazil. They have approximately 3,000 customers using their products, which scores for about half of all enrolled CBD users in the country.
Caroline Heinz, vice-president for HempsMed, states: “Brazil has great natural resources, good soil. But as of now, the law does not allow us [to grow cannabis].” She said that, if the government allowed cultivation, CBD oil prices would be far lower.
The total number of permissions for specific patients in Brazil to import non registered medical marijuana products exceeded 13,000 at the end of September 2019, according to data the country’s health regulator shared with Marijuana Business Daily.
The data shows increasing demand despite the prevailing restrictive plan that allows only personal imports. With laws set to change in March 2020, allowing bulk imports, this business will only become more attractive.
Possession, Consumption, and Cultivation of Cannabis in Brazil
It’s illegal to possess or use any amount of cannabis in Brazil.
However, while the New Drug Law (Law 11,343 of 2006) hasn’t decriminalised personal consumption, Brazil has modified its approach to dealing with offenders caught using any illegal substances, including marijuana.
To discover if the cannabis was for private use or not, the judge needs to examine the following:
- The quality and amount of cannabis
- Where it was caught
- The circumstances under which it happened
- The offender’s background check (e.g., previous offenses)
- Offender’s situation
It’s illegal to grow marijuana in Brazil. However, the New Drug Law values limited cultivation for private use in much the same way it sees possessing small amounts.
It indicates that, if caught producing cannabis plants for private use only, the offender is likely to get a warning, or enforced community service/participation in an educative program.
According to Marijuana Business Daily, Brazilian health authorities denied the domestic cultivation of medical marijuana. Still, they agreed to allow the distribution of medicinal marijuana products that have not performed clinical trials, possibly setting up one of the largest import markets in the world.
Medical Marijuana in Brazil
The National Sanitary Vigilance Agency of Brazil initially approved the therapeutic medicinal usage of cannabis in 2015. It allowed the use of Metavyl (the Brazilian name for Sativex), exclusively for Multiple Sclerosis patients.
A few more alternatives have been made available for patients since then, though these are still restrained. Cannabis oil is prescribed to sufferers with microcephaly and epilepsy.
However, pricing is a problem. Suzana, the mother of a two-year-old who undergoes regular seizures, interacted with The Brazilian Report and said they were able to buy the medicine for the first time, but they’re not sure about the second time.
Once they have permission, the patient may legitimately buy products from international websites, and receive authorization to import into the nation.
This process might become more comfortable in the future. At the end of 2018, a bill was passed, allowing the use and cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
It means patients can cultivate it at home without the chance of prosecution, as long as they have a prescription from their doctor.
The Senate’s Social Affairs Committee has signed off on the proposal, but in order to become law, it must be supported by the full Senate, not to mention President Jair Bolsonaro.
Given Bolsonaro’s famously hard anti-drugs attitude, this may be easier said than done.
In the statement by ANVISA, the National Agency for Health Surveillance of Brazil, a new class of medical marijuana products will be prescribed by physicians and sold through pharmacies, allowing safe and legal patient access.
Moreover, ANVISA noted that the laws for medicinal cannabis products would be published in the country’s formal gazette over the next few days. Prominently, the regulations will take 90 days to come into effect.
Sales and Supply of Cannabis in Brazil
The New Drug Law of Brazil considers the sale and supply of weed as a much more serious crime than private consumption. If discovered importing, exporting, providing, producing, selling, giving, transporting, distributing, or rendering marijuana for use, the offender will get a five to a fifteen-year prison sentence.
This was raised in 2006, from the initial minimum sentence of three years.
The penalty is given even if the marijuana is shared with someone for free, as money exchanging hands isn’t the main focus. Instead, it’s the act of providing the drug itself. However, in these situations, punishment usually is reduced.
Some organizations, like the TNI Drugs & Dependency Programme, have distinguished issues with this approach. A contemporary report featured overpopulated prison in Brazil and remarked that many of those imprisoned for drug offenses were small-scale dealers, not large-scale drug traffickers.
In Rio de Janeiro, 61.5% of sentenced drug traffickers were tried separately. That means they were caught alone and weren’t operating as part of a group. 66.4% were first-time offenders discovered with relatively small amounts.
Buy Cannabis in Brazil
Because of the constitution and laws surrounding the cultivation and delivery of cannabis, medical marijuana stores, dispensaries, and weed farms are non-existent in Brazil.
That also indicates there are no Brazilian seed banks for consumers to buy cannabis products from. This makes finding cannabis seeds nearly tricky and very risky.
Fortunately, you can still discover online seed banks that ship to Brazil, as long as it is from a reliable and trustworthy marijuana seed bank. However, we recommend you to take great care and move forward with caution. Review the legality of transporting and shipping such drugs in your country before placing an order.
Cannabis Culture in Brazil
In Brazil, attitudes towards marijuana are often tied up in politics. The far-right leader of Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro, is against marijuana reform, and in the past, has indicated he would include restrictive drug policies.
It’s essential to remember that he won the polls with 55% of the country’s votes – meaning that many Brazilians agree with him.
Some of the most prominent evangelicals of Brazil who have notable influence over politics are also against the legalization of marijuana.
One instance is the televangelist Silas Malafaia, who thinks that marijuana destroys the body and the nation as a whole. He commented lately: “Should we really legalize something that will end up costing the state even more?”.
However, other legislators take the opposite stand. Renato Cinco, a socialist city councilman, once said that in countries where there is huge social inequality, like Brazil, prohibition is a factor in the production of violence.
Likewise, the Brazil Workers’ Party proposed a bill in 2018, which, if established, would completely legalize weed, allowing the country to develop a commercial cannabis market, and letting people grow up to six plants for personal consumption.
Given the attitude of the current government towards marijuana, the bill is dubious about being passed, but it confirms that there’s strong support for marijuana legalization in Brazil.
Call for Cannabis
Each year, people gather in Rio de Janeiro to take part in the Marijuana March. This global celebration witnesses activists coming unitedly to call for marijuana legalization.
Here is a video of people gathered in the Marijuana March!
The pressure isn’t only coming from the 5,000 or so people that accompany the march. Leading political figures have spoken plainly about the advantages of decriminalization.
For instance, in 2017, Luis Roberto Barroso became the fourth of the country’s eleven Supreme Court Justices to announce his support for it.
Moreover, many medical researchers and cancer patients call for the legalization of medicinal marijuana for chronic conditions. However, they’re met with emphatic contradictions.
The conservative parties of Brazil are gaining power, and their stance is distinctly against decriminalization. So the status of cannabis in Brazil stays up in the middle of the chaos.
Wrap Up
Despite the conventional approach of Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, the situation for the decriminalization of cannabis possession in Brazil sounds to be beneficial.
As three of the eleven Justices of the Supreme Court have already voted in favor of the possession of marijuana for personal usage in a judgment session that continued in November 2019.
The potential decriminalisation would be the first move for Brazil to rise in the future as an important market for products obtained from cannabis and a possible environment for the breeding, production, and improvement of technologies for producing cannabis products.
We hope this article would be helpful when you try to know the history of cannabis in Brazil and want to buy cannabis seeds in Brazil.
