Manifest presented to Brazil's minister of the Supreme Federal Court

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Manifest presented to Brazil's minister of the Supreme Federal Court

26 April 2013

With the help of Viva Rio, the Brazilian Commission on Drugs and Democracy and a set of partner organizations, seven ministers of justice that served under the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Fernando Henrique Cardoso governments signed a manifest attesting the unconstitutionality of the criminalization of the penal repression of drug possession for personal use. The document was presented last Thursday, April 16th, by the ex-minister of Justice José Gregori to the minister of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), Gilmar Mendes.

Gregori said that these ministers were dissatisfied with the drug policies in effect during their administrations and that Brazil is now ready to discuss the issue. “The fact that criminal statistics are so high shows that we have to reevaluate certain policies, such as drug laws, which are without a doubt violence sensitive”.

This event marks an important step in the future drug law changes that our campaign and organization hopes to see implemented in Brazil. Moreover, revealing the impact and success of the proposal, media outlets widely published articles claiming the importance and positive repercussion of the manifest.

The manifest that the seven ex-ministers presented to the minister of the Supreme Federal Court is available below.

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