Portugal: Legalization of cannabis proposed by two parties

During a parliamentary debate last Wednesday, two Portuguese political parties, the Left Bloc and the Liberal Initiative, each put forward proposals to legalize cannabis for adult use.

Both bills will be sent to the Health Committee for a 60-day period, during which public hearings can be held, amendments submitted and negotiations conducted before the decisive vote in Parliament. However, the two texts are not expected to go through to the final vote, which is due to take place before the end of this legislative session, at the end of July.

Going beyond decriminalization

Both bills aim to legalize the consumption, cultivation, acquisition or possession of cannabis plants, substances or preparations for personal use. Technically, cannabis and its derivatives would be removed from the schedules appended to the legal framework applicable to the trafficking and consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

Fabian Figueiredo, MP for the Bloc de Gauche, recalled that '20 years ago, Parliament had the wisdom to approve courageous and innovative measures to tackle drug addiction, by decriminalizing drug use», welcoming the fact that this solution adopted in Portugal »is now being studied and praised around the world by various states and international institutions«.

« But 20 years ago, But there was no consensus in the Assembly of the Republic. There was no shortage of voices prophesying that we would become a narco-state. A right-wing deputy, Paulo Portas, exclaimed to the British newspaper at the time The Times that they were going to land planes full of students in the Algarve ‘to smoke marijuana and worse, knowing that we wouldn't put them in jail'», he recalls, adding that «sun, beach and drugs», according to Paulo Portas« prophecy »would be the new motto of Turismo de Portugal".

According to Fabian Figueiredo, despite the paradigm shift, «drug policy in Portugal remains incomplete and with an unresolved structural contradiction» since «consumers no longer face criminal prosecution, but their consumption remains dependent on an illegal market, a huge business that continues to be delivered to organized crime».

For each of these proposals, the aim is to regulate the cultivation, production and distribution of cannabis and its derivatives, setting out the applicable limits and requirements:

• authorizations to grow, manufacture, trade (wholesale and retail), import and export cannabis plants, substances, preparations and products
• the obligation to provide information to the Direction générale de la santé on the ingredients used in products and the THC concentration of each ingredient
• information requirements for product labelling and packaging
• advertising and sponsorship
• pricing and taxation

The medical cannabis legalized in Portugal in 2018 and regulated since 2019.