Last Minute: Hemp farmer arrested this morning by GNR in Évora

A Portuguese farmer who grew industrial hemp was arrested this morning, near Estremoz, in the district of Évora, during an operation by the GNR (Guarda Nacional Republicana). The Industrial Hemp Association, CannaCasa, repudiates this approach and criticizes the DGAV (General Directorate of Food and Veterinary Medicine). 

The Évora GNR brigade arrested the farmer, having also destroyed all his industrial hemp production. According to what Cannareporter was able to ascertain, the farmer's cell phone and computer were also seized, and it has not yet been possible to ascertain the circumstances that led to the arrest.

CannaCasa — Associação do Cânhamo Industrial, has already repudiated this action by the authorities and criticized the inflexible stance of the DGAV. “This is an industrial hemp farmer who is a member of CannaCasa and who was present at the protests when farmers gathered in front of the DGAV to demand a bureaucratic release and express their concerns about the losses resulting from the DGAV not authorizing the annual crops in time for the sowing season”.

The farmer will be detained overnight and will be heard by the investigating judge tomorrow, Wednesday. CannaReporter contacted Évora's GNR, but has not yet been able to speak with the officer on duty or obtain further information about this arrest.

This is not the first time that the GNR has made seizures of industrial hemp plantations. The confusion between cannabis and hemp has been recurrent, not only in Portugal. In Spain, the police were recently trained to learn to distinguish between hemp and cannabis, reported to Cannadouro Magazine.