Drug possession for personal use in Brazil could soon be legal, depending on the outcome of a 6-year-old case now before the South American country's Supreme Court.

The Associated Press reports the court is now debating the case of an inmate, first locked away in 2009 at a Sao Paulo prison, who was caught with three grams of marijuana while already incarcerated. The crime of drug possession was ultimately tacked onto his preexisting sentence for robbery and possession of stolen goods, and the prisoner was given two more years.

Now, the public defender's office has filed an appeal on the man's behalf, charging that the additional sentence was unconstitutional because it violated the constitutional right to privacy.

Brazil remains one of few countries in Latin America where possession for personal drug use is still a crime, and recently, Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo told the state-run news agency Agencia Brasil that many of those jailed on possession charges "enter prison as drug users and come out as traffickers."

The Supreme Court's 11 justices began discussing the case Wednesday. After about three hours, Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski adjourned the session and said debate would be resumed Thursday. A final ruling is not expected for several days.

One of the primary concerns for the 11 justices now debating the issue is how to distinguish between users and traffickers of narcotics.

"Acts that do not result in victims cannot be punished," said Walter Maierovitch, a former judge who once led Brazil's anti-drug program. "You cannot punish someone for self-harming himself. Someone cannot be the perpetrator of a crime and its victim at the same time."

Maierovitch added "technical criteria must be established" to determine the amount of drugs that can be considered appropriate for personal use and the levels that clearly exceed that threshold.