BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A top court in Brazil on Tuesday authorized three patients to grow cannabis for medical treatment, a decision that is likely to be applied nationwide in similar cases.

A five-judge panel of the country’s Superior Court of Justice unanimously agreed that the three patients can grow cannabis and extract its oil for use in pain relief. Brazilian law currently limits the medical use of marijuana-derived products to imported goods.

Brazil’s health ministry is yet to regulate home cultivation of cannabis for medical use, which puts anyone doing it at the risk of arrest.

Judge Rogério Schietti said the top court’s panel acted because the government had failed to take a scientific position on the issue.

“The discourse against this possibility is moralistic. It often has a religious nature, based on dogmas, on false truths, stigmas,” Schietti said. “Let us stop this prejudice, this moralism that delays the development of this issue at the legislative, and many times clouds the minds of Brazilian judges.” [Read More @ APNews]