Portugal imports 1 tonne of medical cannabis, buyer unknown

A shipment of medical cannabis crossed the Atlantic in late 2019, from Uruguay to Portugal, without the identity of the buyer being known, which attracted attention by Alfredo Pascual of MJBizDaily.

The Uruguayan shipment, likely the largest international shipment of medical cannabis ever, was legally exported from Uruguay to Portugal late last year. However, the importer, purpose, and final destination of the product remain secret.

In documents that MJBizDaily was able to consult, the licensed producer in Uruguay, Fotmer Life Sciences, exported 1 ton of cannabis flower to Portugal in exchange for €2.9 million, including fees, insurance, and freight. The Portuguese importer is not identified in the document dated October 23, 2019.

The Portuguese regulatory agency responsible for authorizing imports stated that the information requested by MJBizDaily «is not public.».

Only four companies in Portugal held a cannabis import license at the end of 2019, according to Infarmed’s website. Three of the companies stated they were not involved in shipping. Canadian producer Tilray neither confirmed nor denied to MJBizDaily that it was the importer.

«For commercial reasons, Tilray does not provide details about our purchases or who we buy from,» wrote Sarah Sheppard, European communications manager for Tilray, in an email to MJBizDaily.

Portugal allows in theory the sale of medical cannabis on its soil, but no company has been able to obtain the necessary approval to start selling to Portuguese patients. With Uruguayan producer Fotmer not having EU-GMP certification, MJBizDaily suggests that cannabis could have been imported into Portugal for re-export as-is to other countries with lower health criteria for product market entry, such as Israel.