High cost leads Justice to grant cultivation permission to father of boy with epilepsy

Just this week, Justice granted three habeas corpus for self-cultivation of medicinal Cannabis. The lack of accessibility to the medication has increasingly led patients to resort to the Justice system to solve a health problem. The issue is the high price of both imported medication (due to the high dollar exchange rate) and what is available in pharmacies.

Justice Henrique Abi-Ackel Torres, from the 8th CCSTJMG (Criminal Chamber of the Minas Gerais State Court of Justice), located in Belo Horizonte, signed a habeas corpus last Wednesday (22) in favor of 12-year-old Benício Ramires. The boy is autistic and has refractory epilepsy due to Dravet Syndrome - a rare, progressive, and disabling disease.

In the action, he highlighted the value of R$ 2,143.30, for a 30 ml bottle of the medicine. An advertisement leaflet of the medication with the price was one of the pieces of evidence attached to the case by Benício's father, Leandro Ramires, a doctor and director of the Brazilian Association of Medicinal Cannabis Patients, Ama+Me.

He also explained that the son has been in treatment since he was 7 years old. According to the father's account in the case file, no conventional medicine has been able to improve the boy's condition, who has authorization from Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) for importation. Ramires claimed that currently, the importation process has issues.

“Still on a provisional basis, a safe conduct should be issued for planting, cultivation, possession, extraction, and use of the Cannabis Sativa L. plant for medicinal purposes,” wrote the judge in the ruling. Ramires obtained the legal right to grow only to extract the oil.

Depression

The other two habeas corpus were granted to patients with disabling diseases. One was for a case of depression and the other for migraine. On Monday (20), in Brasília, a 21-year-old was celebrating the court decision. The young man has had depression since childhood, caused by the fear of dying. The certainty of premature death began after undergoing surgery to remove kidney stones.

Arthur (he does not allow the disclosure of his full name) even had dissociative crises from reality. He dropped out of school. He consumed excessive alcoholic beverages. He was violated. According to him, medicinal Cannabis reduced anguish, sadness, and lack of appetite, but the cost of treatment is a problem for the family. The decision left the young man ecstatic with the possibility of continuing to have a normal life.

Migraine

The Federal Justice of Rio Grande do Norte authorized a woman to cultivate. The reason: severe migraine attacks, which only improve with Cannabis. At the end of the document, signed on Wednesday (22), the judge stated that Anvisa's authorization for importation or purchase at pharmacies in the national territory restricts access to the medication, “not allowing everyone to exercise the same right”.