Remembering is living!
Who doesn't remember the small and quiet Cruzeta (RN), where residents cultivated cannabis for medicinal purposes in different places in the city, including the main square
Published on 09/05/2021
Edition and curation Sechat, with content from BBC
The case gained nationwide attention and to this day is the subject of comments from the 8,000 inhabitants of the city. Among the younger residents, some find it hard to believe that the case happened in the quiet municipality.
On social media, a news report about the plantations in Cruzeta, at the time they were discovered, constantly resurfaces. On YouTube, a video on the subject has over 200,000 views.
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The residents who consumed the plant told the police, as soon as the case came to light, that they used the herb only for medicinal purposes. They stated that they were surprised to discover it was marijuana. At the time, they were afraid of being arrested, as planting the herb, even in small quantities, could be considered a crime
The story
It was a Saturday night in early June 1996 when the police station in Cruzeta received an anonymous tip about a suspect selling marijuana in a bar, in a region near the city's exit.
The police went to the location and found a young man with a small amount of the drug. They discovered that minutes earlier, the young man had thrown a plastic bag over a wall, in a neighboring plot next to the bar.
According to the police reports, the bag contained several green leaves from a plant, apparently freshly harvested, similar to cannabis. The suspect was arrested and taken to the police station, where he stated he had obtained the herb from the backyard of an elderly man in Cruzeta.
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The following Monday, the municipal police obtained a search and seizure warrant, issued by the court, allowing them to go to the residence of Mr. João, the elderly man pointed out by the young man, then 63 years old. On the wall of his house, they found a three-meter-tall plant.
According to the police, João asked them not to cut the plant. "He had several barrels with the herb soaked in water, consumed it daily, and treated it as a sacred liquid," says 54-year-old teacher Renilda Medeiro, who has lived in Cruzeta since childhood. She mentioned that the elderly man had cancer and believed the liquid helped him in the fight against the disease. "He said that this plant relieved all the pain he felt and prevented the disease from progressing."
Renilda stated that many residents of Cruzeta, upon learning of the benefits João claimed to get from the herb, had asked him for cuttings. "Several people wanted to plant it at home," she said.
As soon as they found the plantation at the elderly man's house, the Cruzeta police cut the herb and took it to the city's police station.
In a statement given in September '96, João declared that the plant had been in his house for eight years, since his wife brought the herb from his sister's house in Natal (RN). The elderly man stated he used it to cure illnesses. "He (João) said that several people asked for branches to make medicines. He never knew if anyone used the plant as a narcotic," part of the police inquiry on the case narrates.
Plants were found in at least six residences in Cruzeta and in places like the main square near the town hall, a cemetery, and in front of a church. "Some reached six meters in height," said the clerk at the Cruzeta registry office in the '90s, Pedro George de Brito.
"The squares in Cruzeta were quite wooded, so it was common for people to plant there. In one of these, they ended up planting cannabis too," commented Renilda.
The subject is still a source of jokes in the city, however, the medicinal use of the plant, used at the time by the residents of Cruzeta, is evidence of the therapeutic power and benefits that cannabis can bring to people's lives.
