Rede de usuários de cannabis medicinal do Ceará: uma luta política por regulamentação

Abstract

Since ancient times, at the beginning of the human agrarian adventure, the cannabis sativa plant has marked the historical records of various societies around the world. Marijuana, a common name in Brazil, takes root in national soils in the colonial period. Since then, its management has undergone transformations until the present day. The drug prohibition movement was responsible for prohibiting their use in Brazil and around the world, introducing new concepts and stigmas related to the plant. With advances in scientific production around the therapeutic use of cannabis, groups of users are organizing politically to guarantee access to cannabis therapy in the country to improve their quality of life. In this sense, this research provided a historical review of the prohibition of cannabis in Brazil and its social consequences up to the present day. The research involved the participation of six people, two women and four men who form a network of medicinal cannabis users in Ceará, a diverse, open and political network. Social network analysis indicates the existence of associations and support groups with material and immaterial exchanges in a network open to new participants. According to network analyses, there is a social movement seeking to guarantee access to medical cannabis-based therapy in the state through ties and exchanges of friendship, professionals and trust. The data produced indicates that prohibitionism in the form of law makes access to marijuana-based treatment difficult, directly impacting the quality of life of these patients and their families. In this sense, we can infer that social organization, through the formation of formal and informal groups and associations, is seeking to mitigate the effects produced by the plant's ban in Brazil. It is concluded that the state of Ceará has social movements in a network format that fight through various connections between different sectors of society for access to the medicinal use of cannabis.