The Role of Lawyers in Advocating for Therapeutic Use of Cannabis in Brazil in Focus

Presenting a personal approach to the role of the legal profession in the legal and social disputes surrounding cannabis in the country, lawyer Emílio Nabas Figueiredo, who has been active in the cannabis agenda since 2008, launched in August the book “Advocacy and Cannabis: An Ethnography of Lawyers in the Defenses and Demands of Cannabis in Brazil.”

In the work, the author primarily highlights the therapeutic use of cannabis and the fight against criminalization. The publication analyzes the actions of lawyers in drug policy, reinforcing the importance of the legal profession in defending rights related to medicinal access and the decriminalization of the plant.

More than an academic contribution, the book offers a first-person perspective on a legal field in transformation. “Cannabis is a plant intimately connected to humanity for millennia, and this work shows how the law can be used to restore its relationship with society, far from the paradigm of exclusion,” states Emílio Figueiredo.

Structure and Contributors

Resulting from research conducted in the Master's program in Justice and Security at the Federal Fluminense University (UFF), the work combines anthropological methodology, personal accounts, and stories from legal practice. The book portrays the routine, dilemmas, and strategies of lawyers working in this constantly evolving field.

The research includes interviews with criminal lawyers, activists, patients, and family members, as well as an analysis of landmark judicial decisions — such as habeas corpus that authorized domestic cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Published by Editora Reviver, with photography by Fabrício de Lima, the book features three prefaces signed by references from different fields:

- Luciana Boiteux, jurist and professor at UFRJ, a national reference in Criminal Law and drug policy;

- Sidarta Ribeiro, neuroscientist and professor at the Brain Institute of UFRN, best-selling author and advocate for therapeutic use of cannabis;

- Marcos Veríssimo, anthropologist and researcher at INCT-InEAC, specialist in the sociology of law.