O O uso medicinal de cannabis: tabus morais, conflitos éticos e legais

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine ethical and legal problems related to the medicinal use of Cannabis sativa L. in the brazilian reality, considering historical, moral and cultural aspects associates to socially constructed practices and discourses that sometimes reinforce and reproduce prejudices and taboos associated with the illicit status of marijuana problematizing, from a bibliographical research and a critical-analytical approach, the way in which such aspects persist and hinder the realization of fundamental rights such as the right to life and health. To do so, it goes through an itinerary that begins with the phytological description of Cannabis sativa L. and a brief history of the use of marijuana, restrictions and legal prohibitions; then discusses, from an ethical point of view, moral prejudices related to its use, which, while they are being fought, they still affect medical, scientific and legal initiatives; to, finally, analyze contradictions present in the laws in vogue, in order to point out possible limitations, indicating existing tensions in the current political and social conjuncture regarding the theme, as well as highlighting agencies of civil society organizations, which emerge from concrete demands for the right to use medical cannabis. The analysis concludes by supporting the perspective of an inversion of values ​​in vogue, from which marijuana moves from the drug condition linked to immorality and crime, to that of enabling health and quality of life.