Portugal: a bill to legalize medical and recreational cannabis is in preparation

In Portugal, a bi-partisan coalition made up of the Left Bloc and the Communist Party would prepare bills to authorize the medical and recreational use of cannabis.

The Portugal decriminalized the use of all drugs in the early 2000s, but has never introduced legal access to cannabis, either recreational or therapeutic (Sativex is authorized, however).

Similar proposals on the legalization of cannabis for medicinal use had already seen the light of day in 2013 and 2015, but were rejected by the center-right coalition government.

85% of the 10380 drug-related arrests in 2015 in Portugal were made by cannabis users alone, according to SICAD, local OFDT.

The Left Bloc said that current legislation continues to criminalize the use of cannabis, and that many self-growers are treated as traffickers.

«In other words, anyone who grows cannabis at home for personal use instead of buying it on the black market is liable to a prison sentence,» adding all the same that he didn't know precisely how many people were in this situation.

In 2015, the Bloc de Gauche had proposed opening up access to medical cannabis more widely and decriminalizing the self-cultivation of cannabis for personal use, while calling for the creation of Cannabis Social Clubs. The proposal was supported by the Left, but not by the Greens.

With a new composition of the Portuguese Parliament, the bi-partisan coalition is expected to present its proposal in early 2018. The two parties have agreed to present separately a proposal for therapeutic use and another for recreational use, the priority however being to approve a law that would increase access to medical cannabis.

Tilray, a major Canadian producer of medical cannabis, is an indication that the Portuguese market may soon be opening up, sets up in Portugal in 2018. And at the same time, the intention was already here at the beginning of the year.