São Paulo Marijuana March protests arrests and police violence

Mass incarceration and police violence in the poorest communities are at the center of discussions at this year's São Paulo Marijuana March. Under the slogan “Creating a Future without War”, the demonstration took place on Paulista Avenue, in the central region of the capital, on Sunday (Jun. 16).

The movement asserts that the prohibition of marijuana is used as a pretext to persecute the black population living in the peripheral areas of large cities. "The big lie of prohibition is perpetuated to sustain the arms industry, prisons, and massacres. A racist ideology that turns corruption into routine, feeding armed, violent, and profitable markets that grow day by day," states the manifesto of the 2024 march. It emphasizes that the illegality of drugs is upheld by lies that contradict scientific evidence.

"You still have senators, congressmen, and psychiatrists who go to Brasília and lie. They lie shamelessly," says activist Rebeca Lerer, a participant in the mobilization since the first march in São Paulo 16 years ago. She notes that various studies demonstrate the plant's many applications, including medicinal ones. "However, as with many other issues, there is a disinformation machine, driven by conservative reasons or economic and political interests, that works against it," she adds.

The movement asserts that the prohibition of marijuana is used as a pretext to persecute the black population living in the peripheral areas of large cities - Paulo Pinto/Agencia Brasil

Voting

Currently, the issue of drugs, particularly the use and possession of marijuana, is at the center of the political agenda and public debate in Brazil, being discussed both in the Supreme Court and in the National Congress.

The proposal to include the criminalization of carrying or possessing any quantity of drugs in the Constitution was approved last Wednesday (12) by the Constitution and Justice Committee of the House of Representatives. It will next be reviewed by a special committee. If approved there, it will proceed to the plenary for further analysis.

A case to decriminalize the possession of marijuana for personal use is currently being heard in the Supreme Court. The analysis was interrupted at the beginning of March by a request from Justice Dias Toffoli. Before the interruption, five of the 11 Supreme Court justices had voted in favor of decriminalization, while three had voted against it.