Drug trafficking most common case for habeas corpus in Brazil

Of the 12,331 writs of habeas corpus and appeals received by Brazil's Superior Court of Justice up to now this year, 3,506 are linked to drug trafficking—30% of the total.

The information was reported by court head Laurita Vaz, who was mentioning problems facing Brazil's drug policies during a seminar in Brasília. “Drug trafficking and drug use are evils that have assailed society more and more severely in recent years, which alarms us and leads to vile consequences,” she said.

Brazil's so-called Drug Law is turning ten years old this year, and the National Judicial School Justice Sálvio de Figueiredo (ENFAM) held a seminar entitled “Ten Years of the Drug Law – Results and Outlooks from a Multidisciplinary Perspective” on the matter this week.

Brazilian Attorney-General Grace Mendonça, also attending the seminar, described the figures as appalling from the public security point of view. She mentioned the National Penitentiary Department, which has reported that a third of inmates in Brazil had an involvement with drugs. Data from the National Council of Justice indicate that some 75% of young offenders are drug users.

The topic, Mendonça maintains, must be approached in a multidisciplinary manner involving the Judiciary branch, health care, political science, and sociology. “It's important to deal with the issue from the perspective of assistance for addicts, which includes their reintegration into society, so that they can have quality of life,” she added.

In the view of Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot, the subject of drugs is a dynamic one. “The confrontation methods, the effects, and the results showed and not showed by the police” should be seen under a new light, he went on to say. As issues worthy of being analyzed and debated, Janot named prevention and reintegration policies, using goods seized to fight against drugs, a distinction between users and dealers, the proper legal action, and the consequences of criminal anti-drugs policy in Brazil's “battered and failed” jail system.

To Laurita Vaz's judgment, legalizing drug use is no solution, as consequences are merely individual. “In Brazil, a country of continental dimensions, with most of its population deprived of quality basic education, with ever more precarious police, with health care agencies operating on the verge of chaos, this proposal doesn't seem so inviting,” she said.

In addition to bringing the country's drug-related policies up for debate, the seminar discusses the expectations for a new approach, including public policies aimed at assisting drug addicts, the medical use of prescribed substances, issues related to imprisonment and gender, and criminal as well as procedural aspects in the way crimes are dealt with in the Anti Drug Law.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira