Portuguese government 'very cautious' in legalizing cannabis

The Assistant Secretary of State and Health, Fernando Araújo, recently admitted that the Portuguese government is being “very cautious” regarding the legalization of cannabis for medicinal purposes in Portugal. The official spoke at the opening session of the international conference “Lisbon Addictions 2017“, which took place from the 24th to the 26th of October at the Lisbon Congress Centre.

Asked by Cannapress if, after the success of the decriminalization of drugs, Portugal should move towards the legalization of cannabis for medicinal purposes, following the trend of several countries in Europe and the world, the Secretary of State replied that “in spite of everything, the success that we've had these last few years, says we should be cautious. We are observing and monitoring experiences made in other countries, in terms of legalization, in order to understand the real impact on people and the whole process. We are looking closely at these states, but in changing policies we are going to be very cautious. We had good results, and therefore, when we want to change to a new paradigm, we must be very well-founded that this is the right path to that end. We will observe, analyse, monitor, and in due course, if justified, embark on further changes in this paradigm”.

Fernando Araújo, Assistant Secretary of State and Health PHOTO: DR

With countries such as Canada with more than 16 years of experience in legalizing cannabis for medicinal purposes, and more recently some European countries adopting the same measures, the Ministry of Health has been discreetly attentive to developments, but does not reveal whether Portugal foresees an investment in this area in the future.

“Infarmed has been in this area, in terms of medicine, it has been studying and monitoring this issue with other European countries and other European drug agencies”, continued Fernando Araújo.

Infarmed has even authorized three cannabis plantations for medicinal purposes in Portugal, but the government still seems to want to wait for more evidence: “The plantation is different from the use in Portugal for this purpose. The plantation is, of course, for the company that is producing and that really has exports, but in Portugal I think we must have strong scientific evidence, we must also have coherence with other European countries to have a social policy that would say something homogeneously at European level in this area”, continued the Secretary of State.

João Goulão, general director of SICAD
PHOTO: DR

Faced with the fact that countries such as Italy, Germany and Spain have already authorized and regulated the use of medical cannabis, Fernando Araújo once again referred to Infarmed: “We will certainly discuss, deepen, and as soon as there is a reasoned proposal from the Infarmed we will be naturally open to listen, to appreciate and to evaluate. I say it again, in an area where we are so successful, we have to be careful when we take new measures, so as not to jeopardize all the history we have here of good results.”, he concluded.

João Goulão, director general of the Service for Intervention in Addictive Behaviors and Dependencies (SICAD), was also prudent with regard to the legalization of cannabis in Portugal. Cannapress had an hour long conversation with João Goulão during Lisbon Addictions and the interview will be published soon.
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(Featured photo: Laura Ramos)