The Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region (TRF4) is a finalist for the Innovare Award - 2026 Edition, in the "Court" category, with the practice "Cannabidiol: from crime product to health product". Developed through inter-institutional collaboration within the InspiraLab, the TRF4 innovation laboratory, the initiative aims to structure a judicial policy for the destination of seized cannabis, capable of contributing to the development of a public health policy.
The project brings together two realities that are normally treated separately. On the one hand, cannabis seized in criminal proceedings is stored and subsequently destroyed. On the other hand, there is growing demand for cannabinoid-based medicines, including through judicial actions.
The proposal allows, subject to legal, health, safety and judicial control requirements, that this material can be used for scientific processing and the development of pharmaceutical inputs, instead of being completely destroyed.
Integrated action
The practice brings together the TRF4, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF), the Federal Police (PF) and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), combining legal, operational and scientific competencies.
The model involves judicial authorization, custody and transport control, traceability, and processing in an appropriate scientific environment. The innovation lies not only in the utilization of a raw material that would otherwise be destroyed, but also in the articulation of existing public structures to address, in an integrated manner, the disposal of seized assets and the difficulty of accessing cannabinoid-based medications.
The increasing judicialization related to the provision of these medications highlights a demand that cannot be resolved solely by the multiplication of individual decisions. Thus, the project aims to advance towards a structured response, creating conditions for a material intended for destruction to potentially contribute to a public chain of production and access to medications in the future.
The model can also generate benefits related to the reduction of waste, the rationalization of custody and disposal costs, as well as the environmentally appropriate treatment of the processing waste.
From prototype to scale
The solution has already been tested in a real-world situation. Seized cannabis was destined for the UFRGS and processed in a controlled scientific environment, with custody and traceability, demonstrating the technical possibility of extracting and purifying cannabinoids.
With the prototype developed, the challenge now lies in scaling it, building, in collaboration with the relevant authorities, the legal, health, scientific, and operational flows necessary to transform the experience into a safe and replicable institutional model.
The expectation is that, once the necessary technical, regulatory, and health procedures are completed, the input obtained can integrate a pharmaceutical production chain and contribute to its free provision to users of the public health network.
In this case, the Judiciary does not replace the bodies responsible for health policy, the production, or the incorporation of medicines into the public health system. Its contribution lies in legally organizing the destination of the material, ensuring the safety of the procedures, and coordinating the institutions involved.
In this sense, judicial policy can act as a catalyst for a public health policy.
From the product of crime to the product of health.
The expression that gives name to this practice summarizes the shift in perspective proposed: transforming what would be destroyed into a resource capable of generating knowledge, inputs, and public value.
The model maintains the controls derived from the illicit origin of the material and depends on judicial authorization, traceability, institutional security, and compliance with sanitary requirements.
The choice of this practice as one of the finalists for the Innovare Award - 2026 Edition recognizes precisely this trajectory: from a solution already tested on a prototype scale to the construction of an institutional model with the potential to scale.
The goal is to move from the judicial disposal of seized cannabis to a structured judicial policy, and from there, to create conditions for the development of a public health policy, transforming a product of crime into potential benefit for society.
Innovare Award
Created in 2004, the Innovare Award is in its 23rd edition in 2026. A total of 312 initiatives have already been recognized with awards and honorable mentions. The award aims to recognize and disseminate transformative practices that develop within the Brazilian Justice system. In addition to recognizing, Innovare seeks to identify concrete actions that represent relevant changes in established routines and that can serve as examples to be implemented in other locations.
The award is promoted by the Innovare Institute, a non-profit association whose main and permanent objectives are to identify, award, and promote practices of the Judiciary, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Public Defender's Office, and lawyers who are contributing to the modernization, democratization of access, effectiveness, and rationalization of the Brazilian Judicial System.
The winning practices of the 23rd edition of the Innovare Award, in the categories "Tribunal", "Judge", "Public Prosecutor's Office", "Public Defender's Office", "Lawyer", and "Justice and Citizenship", will be announced at the award ceremony that will take place on December 3, 2026, at the headquarters of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), in Brasília.
ACS/TRF4 (acs@trf4.jus.br)
The project "Cannabidiol: From a Crime Product to a Health Product" was presented to a consultant for the Innovare Award in a meeting held in the Presidency of the TRF4 on July 9; the practice is a finalist for the Innovare Award - 2026 Edition, in the category "Tribunal" (Photo: Diego Beck/TRF4)
The project "Cannabidiol: From a Crime Product to a Health Product" was presented to a consultant for the Innovare Award in a meeting held in the Presidency of the TRF4 on July 9; the practice is a finalist for the Innovare Award - 2026 Edition, in the category "Tribunal" (Photo: Diego Beck/TRF4)