Victory! Abrace overturns Anvisa's appeal at STJ
The Reporting Minister, Herman Benjamin, acknowledged that no subconstitutional laws are being violated, maintaining what had already been decided at the 5th Region Federal Regional Court (TRF-5)
Published on 05/30/2022
By João R. Negromonte with information from Abrace Esperança
On Monday (30), the cannabis patients' association, Abrace Esperança, achieved an important victory in court. The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) did not recognize a special appeal filed by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) pointing out irregularities of the entity.
Maintaining what had already been decided at the 5th Region Federal Regional Court (TRF-5), the Reporting Minister, Herman Benjamin, did not accept the appeal by understanding that there is no subconstitutional law - a term used to refer to any law not included in the constitutional norm - that has been violated.
“The Court pointed out that the high cost of importing the product or the inputs for its manufacture ends up making any kind of treatment unfeasible, leading families to give up its acquisition or even to get into debt, jeopardizing their own subsistence, in the endeavor to bring relief to the suffering of their loved one and a significant improvement to their quality of life,” said the judge, basing his ruling and maintaining the decision of the TRF-5.
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In addition, he stated that the Special Appeal is not the appropriate instrument to examine the issue. The minister explained his position by exposing the need for people, many of them children, to have dignified treatment for their medical conditions.
The reporter further explains that: “we are not facing a controversy over the interpretation of federal law, but regarding the legitimacy of the Judiciary's action in the specific case, in light of the principle of the separation of powers and the right to health and quality of life of people with serious illnesses, many of them children, who do not have the financial means to bear the costs of importing the product or acquiring it when derived from imported input”.
With this decision, Abrace's work continues in favor of the more than 31 thousand lives that need Cannabis for medical treatment.
