Five members of an association authorized to cultivate medical marijuana are arrested in SE | Sergipe

Four people were arrested preventively and one in the act during a Civil Police operation in Aracaju and Salgado this Friday (26) against drug trafficking. Those involved are part of an association authorized to cultivate medicinal marijuana and allegedly took advantage of this to commit the crime.

In 2023, an unprecedented court decision authorized an association in Sergipe to supply cannabis flower. In the country, only nine associations that defend the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes are authorized to supply cannabidiol in oil form to patients, with a medical report and prescription.

The investigations began around six months ago. According to the Narcotics Department, the association itself is not the subject of investigations, but the associates. You members who occupy positions with management and decision-making power, such as the president, agronomist, cultivation manager and fiscal advisor, took advantage of the ease of access and lack of supervision to divert the plants produced and sell them illegally throughout the state, reaching charge R$30,000 per kilogram of drugs. The amount raised by the sale was not disclosed by the police.

The police investigation also found that the president of the association proposed to the employees that the payments due be made in cannabis seeds or even the fresh plant. The Civil Police also had access to audio recordings from the president of the association, which prove the moment in which he confirmed the illegal trade in marijuana seeds.

Some of those investigated had already been arrested and convicted previously for the crime of drug trafficking.

The defense of NGO reported that it did not have access to the investigation documents and claimed that the members investigated are innocent. The defense also reinforced the importance of the NGO’s actions for public health.

In 2015, the National Health Surveillance Agency reclassified cannabidiol, which was removed from the list of prohibited substances to controlled ones. But the medicine can only be provided by associations authorized by Anvisa.

Five members of an association authorized to cultivate medical marijuana are arrested in SE

In one of the searches, on a farm in the rural area of ​​Salgado, police teams found a vast marijuana plantation, with thousands of marijuana plants. There was also a large laboratory and greenhouse structure at the site, with cameras located throughout the area where the drug was planted.

“In addition to the arrests, an arrest report was drawn up for the crime of drug trafficking and a large quantity of hallucinogenic mushrooms was seized, which is not so common to carry out this type of seizure. The total amount of R$180,000 was also seized, which will be deposited in court, in addition to several cell phones and a car,” said delegate Rafael Kaupfer, from Denarc.

Investigations will continue to identify other people involved.