Read the full article in the Portuguese version here
In the month of May, we witnessed the almost express voting of the Bill that authorizes the practice of “Homeschooling” in Brazil. Although it still depends on other instances – the Senate and the Federal Supreme Court – it is interesting to notice that once again such a less urgent agenda is supported by the majority of our federal deputies, while we are still skating through the process of Bill 399/2015, which legalizes the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes, the marketing of medicines containing parts of the plant and the cultivation of hemp for industrial purposes.
The researcher Lygia Maria commented in the article, is homeschooling that urgent in a country where the number of 7-year-olds who cannot read and write jumped from 25% in 2019 to 40% in 2021? Meanwhile, PL 399/2015 seeks to give access to medicines to low-income families who depend on cannabis to provide quality of life for their children, the elderly, and, in some cases, the heads of households themselves.
It makes you wonder: what hidden agendas do voters not know about in these decisive processes? Why did President Jair Bolsonaro include homeschooling among his priority goals for the first 100 days of government? What is behind the interest in keeping children away from living with diversity in a school environment?? Homeschooling is not a priority – but medical cannabis and its regulation, as I have been discussing over the months here, is vital for thousands of Brazilians.”
While our legislators are dragging the debate at the federal level, the Parliamentary Front in Defense of Medical Cannabis and Industrial Hemp has been articulating in the São Paulo Assembly of Deputies to promote public hearings on the subject, bringing together specialists who have been working in this area for decades.. The group will hold 8 thematic public hearings and propose the approval of Bill 1180/2019, which provides free supply by the Unified Health System of formulas based on cannabidiol and other cannabinoid substances. The proposal is to bring together scientists, patients, doctors, cultivation associations, startups, the legal sector and members of the medical and hemp industry for collaborations and proposals. We remain attentive and strong in this debate!
In time: on June 4th, a conversation I had with Elisa Veeck, Lia Bock and Letícia Vidica aired on the program “CNN Nosso Mundo”. We discussed positive and negative points of Bill 399/2015, the importance of legalizing the cultivation and self-cultivation of cannabis for medical and multiple purposes, industrial uses and agroecological benefits of cannabis cultivation. Watch on the link below: