Overview

• The Attorney General’s Office filed the request at 11:26 p.m. on September 30, minutes before the court’s deadline, seeking more time to finish rules for cultivation for medicinal and scientific use.
• STJ minister Regina Helena will decide on the petition after the court previously ordered regulation of planting, cultivation and commercialization and set deadlines that were extended earlier this year.
• The government argues the extension is necessary to complete a regulatory impact analysis and conduct broad public consultation to produce effective and safe standards.
• Patient advocates, including Farmacann, warn that further delay hurts access to treatment, heightens legal uncertainty and fuels additional litigation.
• Background: Anvisa has allowed imports since 2015 and sales since 2019; the STJ authorized seed imports and cultivation for specific purposes in November 2024; more than 670,000 Brazilians use cannabis-based therapies and daily import requests have risen to roughly 490.