Connect with us

Protests Erupt in Brazil after Prominent Cannabis Researcher is Threatened by Police

Published

on

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]I[/dropcap]n Brazil, not even renowned academic researchers, who do not consume cannabis, are safe from police harassment because of their association with the plant.

Police summoned Elisaldo Luiz de Araújo Carlini, a retired professor of psychopharmacology at the Federal University of São Paulo on Feb. 21, on suspicion of inciting drug crime, stemming from his past research on cannabis.

The Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science recently issued a joint statement, strongly condemning the subpoena of Carlini, 88, to testify about allegedly inciting drug crimes.

“We are all Carlini,” the scientists pleaded.

“To accuse Dr. Carlini of [being apologetic] to drugs amounts to criminalizing intelligence and technical-scientific knowledge. It is a cruel and empty provocation against a scientist who has dedicated his entire life to the frontier of knowledge,” the joint statement reads, as translated from Portuguese. “Dr. Elisaldo Carlini is indispensable and his career is an apology to life.”

Carlini is among the most respected drug researchers in Brazil, according to local media. Carlini began researching cannabis during the 1950s, when THC had not yet even been isolated by scientists. “Carlini is an outstanding scientist,” said Raphael Mechoulam, whose lab first isolated THC in 1964. But Carlini is one of the oldest known cannabis researchers, especially in Brazil.

Carlini was blindsided by the accusations. “In more than 60 years of an academic career, I had never been questioned by law agents—until last month,” said Carlini. He says that last year’s meeting was scientific in nature and had nothing to do with inciting people to take drugs. “It’s a Kafkian situation. I wonder what they think an old man can do with marijuana.”

At nearly 90 years old, Carlini is hardly a threat to the civility of Brazil. It’s time for cannabis advocates in Brazil and South America to unite and say “Enough is enough.” The news of Carlini’s situation was behind a number of protests, mostly consisting of other scientists, at the Federal University of São Paulo.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *