Pedro Andrade: “Dehydrated flowers are precisely the means by which I consume cannabis”

Given that the price has not yet been announced, what would be the acceptable amount to be paid by patients for this product?
5 to 10 euros a gram, if not reimbursed. Less than 5 euros, if reimbursed. Don't forget that co-payment is part of the Law that we helped to pass…

What other cannabis-based products do you expect to see approved this year in Portugal?
This year I don't know. But in the medium term at least, I expect to see inflorescences or flowers dehydrated with different amounts of the main molecules, THC(A), CBD(A) and CBC(A); CBD and CBD/THC oils; and edible.

How have you done so far to meet your need to get therapeutic cannabis?
Fundamentally resorting to the black market and trying to plant occasionally, with the enormous constraints that come from both ways. I don't want to have problems with the law for using a plant as a medicine, but I am forced to resort to the black market, without any control over the quality of what I buy and, sometimes, unnecessarily subjecting myself to situations of some risk, in addition to incurring the illegality. Alternatively, I have already tried to plant a few times, with all the constraints that come with it. I'm a paraplegic and I don't have anyone to help me, so the chances of success are always low. As if it weren't enough to incur illegality once again, I have to fear even the friend of someone else, because the last time I planted cannabis, they stole my plants!

Given that this approved product already exists, what do you plan to do in the future to get the cannabis you need?
Being a work accident, accompanied by an insurance company, I will have to make sure that the same institution provides the medication. I will face a bureaucracy of my own, but it will go through “finding” a doctor who will prescribe the substance for me as provided for in the Law.