A Canadian and an Israeli company will be able to produce cannabis for medicinal purposes in Portugal. The two projects have already been approved by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health and Agriculture and Food, with only the second being approved by Infarmed.
According to Jornal de Notícias (JN), the Canadian project will develop in the Cantanhede district of Coimbra. Although it already has all the necessary authorizations, the cultivation has not yet started, the same newspaper says. The Israeli company is waiting for the green light from Infarmed, the national drug authority, which says it is "waiting for the dossiers to be formalized". According to Expresso, this second project will be installed in the region of Alqueva, Alentejo, where there is already an authorized production of opium poppy for medicinal purposes.
The total investment - says the JN - will be around 100 million euros. The companies will create agricultural farming units and an industrial processing and purification plant for cannabis.
These two projects are not the first ones linked to the production of medicinal cannabis to settle in our country. In 2014, a plantation of a UK company, Gw Pharmaceuticals in partnership with giant Bayer, was authorized. It is recalled that in Portugal, although its production is allowed, the use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes is not legal, and only part of its derivatives - cannabinoids can be used. For this reason, neither products made from national plants are available in our market, such as Sativex, the result of the first authorization given in Portugal.
The legalization of marijuana for therapeutic or recreational purposes is a recurring theme of debate in Portugal - a country that, in 2000, decriminalized the drug. The issue has been discussed consecutively in the several parliamentary years without much conclusions so far - something that contrasts with the rapid approval of investment projects of this type, carried out by multinationals. Meanwhile, in November, a fair on cannabis will be held in Porto.