While Brazil’s streets were taken by nationwide protests against budget cuts in education and the government engaged in a full-scale battle against lawmakers in the House of Representatives, Brazil’s senators approved a new National Drug Policy that, in practice, adopts a punitive approach against drug users—which will potentially have severe impacts on the country’s healthcare and security systems.
Despite spending almost six years debating the matter with experts in special committees, senators decided to scrap every amendment proposed and approve the bill as it was passed by the House of Representatives,...
