Dr. Paulo Thiessen

Missionary and Legal Director of the Cannabis Without Borders Movement, lawyer of the Cannabis Without Borders Association, member of Cannabis Sans Frontières, President of Santo Amor – World Movement for Cannabis Freedom Club, Administrative Director of ACURA – Association for the Support of Cannabis Research and Patients, member of ENCOD – the European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies, and of the Cannabis Embassy. Also acts as a speaker, professor, and writer of cannabis-related articles, committed to education, knowledge-sharing, learning, dialogue, and the promotion of global common community growth, while also providing legal and strategic advisory services to companies, organizations, and individuals operating across the cannabis and hemp sectors, within national and multilateral policy and governance frameworks.

Works in Brazil and internationally in the defense of cannabis freedom in all its forms, with a strong focus on the protection of individual and collective human rights, the development of public policies, and legal and institutional strategies before courts, administrative authorities, and United Nations bodies. Is one of those responsible for obtaining the first legal license for cannabis flowers in Brazil, among other contributions to the advancement of cannabis freedom.

Dedicated to the strategic, administrative, and legal defense of the interests of patients, activists, associations, and companies; to the protection and structuring of products, brands, and operations; to the organization, regulation, and governance of individual and collective self-cultivation, patient associations, and cannabis social clubs; as well as to the defense of the right to ritualistic, spiritual, and religious use of the cannabis plant. Also works toward the historical recognition of cannabis and the promotion of social restoration and reparation for populations marginalized, criminalized, and made vulnerable by decades of disproportionate and unjust public policies related to cannabis.

A defender of harm reduction policies and of governmental and business-oriented strategies capable of reconciling regulated libertarian advancement with the reduction of illegal markets, promoting legal certainty, economic development, new productive opportunities, the reduction of systemic violence associated with prohibition, and the strengthening of social peace.

Provides legal and strategic advisory services to companies, associations, and institutions seeking to meet adequate requirements of compliance, governance, operational structuring, and internationalization within the network of United Nations bodies, including guidance and support in applications for consultative status before the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).

Develops global libertarian legal strategies, legal structures, and compliance frameworks, grounded in constitutional norms and fundamental legal and human rights principles of each country, promoting a rights-based regulation of cannabis that is humanitarian, economically viable, fair, prosperous, and socially restorative on a global scale.