Brazil’s cannabis market, which has been on the rise since 2021, is the second highest in the world, as measured by the 2023 Global Organized Crime Index, where it scored 8.5 out of 10 (cannabis markets in Lebanon, Morocco and Paraguay tied for first place, with a score of 9.) Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in Brazil: a 2023 survey suggests that 20% of Brazilian adults – more than 30 million people – have smoked cannabis at some point in their lives. The penalties for possession in Brazil have always been severe, with many receiving prison sentences for possession of small quantities. This policy has put thousands of people, mostly young black men from the urban periphery, into contact with the criminal organizations that control the country’s prisons.
While behind bars, ironically, many join drug trafficking organizations, such as the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and the Comando Vermelho (CV), both of which have their genesis in Brazilian prisons. These gangs wield great power and influence over prison life and are known to settle disputes between inmates and provide the poorest among them with food and other commodities. Inmates who join their ranks can earn far more money from the drug trade than they would in the formal labour market. The Organized Crime Index gives Brazil a score of only 3 out of 10 for its judicial system and detention, a resilience indicator that scores the extent to which organized crime has infiltrated and influenced a country’s prison system. Brazil’s poor score is explained by the significant role these criminal organizations play in the country’s prison ecosystem.
Brazil’s drug law, however, enacted in 2006, states that drug users are not criminals and, therefore, should not be subject to jail sentences. However, the law fails to distinguish between drug traffickers and users, and although it decriminalizes personal use, legislators made it impossible to avoid prison if a person is considered a drug trafficker, increasing sentences for those judged to be traffickers. Without objective criteria for distinguishing between a drug user and a trafficker, most cases are decided on the basis of police officers’ testimony alone, and studies show that people from population groups that are racially discriminated are more likely to be considered drug traffickers by the Brazilian police.
A potential shift?
In July 2024, Brazil’s Supreme Court approved the decriminalization of the possession of fewer than 40 grams of cannabis. The new ruling could lead to a major change in the application of drug legislation in Brazil. Overcrowded and largely controlled by illicit organizations, Brazil’s prisons resemble ‘universities of crime’ – as PCC members call them – where young men are able to acquire criminal expertise and in the process develop lasting networks with criminal operatives. The court’s ruling on possession could lead to a significant easing of the prison population, and at the same time weaken the ability of the drug gangs to matriculate new members behind bars.
Data on cannabis seizures shows that many of the harmful effects of mass incarceration and its impact on the concentration of crime in prisons could have been avoided if the 40-gram threshold had been in place earlier (see graph below). Severe penalties for possession of small amounts of drugs have contributed to a dramatic increase in the Brazilian prison population over the last 20 years, making Brazil the country with the third largest prison population in the world, behind the US and China. As a result, membership of the PCC and CV has expanded, allowing these groups to become major players in transnational drug trafficking.
Most of the compressed form cannabis sold in Brazil is produced in Paraguay, and the CV, PCC and other criminal groups control most of the domestic trade. Criminal organizations use the same routes for cocaine and weapons trafficking, increasing the bottom line profitability of their businesses.
Arguably, without cannabis prohibition, organized crime in Brazil might look very different today. Although the cocaine trade – for which Brazil scored 9 out 10 in the 2023 Organized Crime Index – has increased the profitability and violence of Brazilian organized crime, the large illegal cannabis trade contributes significantly to its revenues, relatively high social acceptance and substantial profitability. Cannabis costs around US$6 per kilo to purchase in Paraguay and sells for US$500–US$1 000 in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. These profits are then invested by criminal groups in weapons, criminal control of urban peripheries and other illicit activities.
Although the July Supreme Court ruling on cannabis established clear criteria for distinguishing between drug users and traffickers, the court left some loose ends in its decision: it omitted other drugs and opened the possibility for judges to attribute trafficker status based on subjective circumstances. These omissions could hamper the court’s decision to reduce the prison population in the long term. Nevertheless, the ruling is a step in the right direction towards addressing the dangerous social consequences of tough-on-crime drug regulations and confronting criminal governance in Brazil’s prisons.
This analysis is part of the GI-TOC’s series of articles delving into the results of the Global Organized Crime Index. The series explores the Index’s findings and their effects on policymaking, anti-organized crime measures and analyses from a thematic or regional perspective.
