Marijuana in the face of the scourge of prohibitionism

Abstract

Based on bibliographic review and documentary analysis, this article analyzes the history of almost a century of national prohibitionism regard to marijuana. Enacted under the Vargas dictatorship in 1932, the legislation that specifically prohibits marijuana transactions throughout Brazilian territory solidified the prohibitionist paradigm regarding this substance. We posit that this prohibition hinders a viable economic alternative with recognized therapeutic utilities, thus constituting a true national scourge. Instead of being legally regulated and utilized, marijuana became the target of disproportionate state actions throughout the 20th century, producing adverse effects in the country. Based on a literature review and document analysis, this text critically analyzes nearly a century of national prohibitionism regarding marijuana and then highlights the emergence of biomedical, legal, economic, public administration, and social movement interests that converge in favor of less restrictive changes to the issue in the early 21st century. However, there is an emergence of biomedical, legal, economic, public administration and social movement interests, which converge in favor of less restrictive changes to the topic in these early 21st century.