The first edition of Cannadouro — International Hemp Fair, which took place on the 18th and 19th of November at Alfândega do Porto, was a success, in such a way that João Carvalho, from the organization, announced that he is already preparing the second edition of the event. An iconic figure in the Portuguese cannabis scene, João Carvalho spoke with Cannapress at the end of Cannadouro to take stock of his activity.
“The great objective has been accomplished: the meeting place for cannabis culture in Portugal is created”, can be read in the press release sent by Cannadouro. According to official data, the event had about 60 stands, divided between participants and sponsors, 30 national and international companies, 14 parallel conferences and received more than 2.500 visitors, including 250 accredited professionals.
General image of Cannadouro Photo: DR
Alberto Pires, co-organizer of the event, also confirmed this success with the companies represented: “At a business level, the feedback we received was extremely positive and we already have interest and reservations for next year's edition. The companies have obtained proof that the Portuguese market deserves their attention and has great potential.”
The fair promoted the debate on the use of hemp in all its aspects — industrial, recreational and medicinal — and thus established itself as “the meeting point for the cannabis culture of the entire Atlantic strip of the Iberian Peninsula, with visitors to travel to Porto from the Algarve to Galicia”, said João Carvalho in an interview with Cannapress.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”The person who cultivates himself does not need to feed the traffic. More than 80% of the supply of soft drugs in Portugal is hashish of poor quality and this is the result of illegality”[/perfectpullquote]
Author of the prologue to Jack Herer’s book “O Rei vai Nú”, João Carvalho became interested in the universe of the plant very early on. Cannabis Sativa L.: “In the early 90s I did a paper on hemp for a course and in 1995 I signed up for a master's degree that I did not complete, but which allowed me to gather a lot of information. I can say with some pride that I will probably be the person who has the most bibliographic references on hemp in Portugal, because I visited the most important libraries in the country, many of them small, but located in areas historically related to hemp. There is a lot of literature, especially since the XNUMXth century. XVIII, in which hemp was treated as one of the great agricultural crops, without any prejudice.”, he says.
In 2001, together with Luís Torres Fontes, editor of Optimal Way, writes the “Brief history of Cannabis in Portugal”, which, he announces, will have a continuation soon: “There is a plan to do this, because the first book goes until 2001, that is, it already covers the recreational use of cannabis, but not what happened next with the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal”.
The famous book by Jack Herer, published in Portugal by Via Óptima, has a prologue signed by João Carvalho
Starting in 2006, João Carvalho became involved in organizing the first Global Marijuana March (MGM) and was forever linked to the movement for the legalization of cannabis in Portugal. Although he admits the desire for legalization for all purposes, João Carvalho says that he does not believe this will happen in this legislature: “I believe that the first step will be the legalization of medicinal use, which brings with it self-cultivation. Then self-cultivation needs the seeds and with that possibility open, recreational use will be the end, but I am of the opinion that the use of cannabis for all purposes should be legalized, obviously and quickly”.
Asked about self-cultivation, João Carvalho takes a very clear position: “The person who does self-cultivation does not need to feed the traffic using the black market. More than 80% of the supply of soft drugs in Portugal is hashish of poor quality, of very poor quality, and this is the result of illegality. In terms of risk reduction, it would be positive to regulate this access. I stopped smoking hashish more than 10 years ago, if I smoke it is only of the highest quality, so I think that in risk reduction it is definitely preferable to smoke weed than to smoke hashish”.
Featured Photo: Cristiana Milhão — DN / Global Images