Portugal sets new rules for growing cannabis
Despite the fact that since 2018 the use
of hemp for medical purposes has been regulated in Portugal, there are actually
no alternatives in the country to the only hemp pharmacological drug sold at a
relatively high price, even though part of its cost is compensated by the state
budget.
Portugal has updated the departmental acts
relating to the cultivation of hemp with new rules for representatives of the
hemp industry. Ministerial Order 14/2022, issued on January 5, establishes the
requirements and procedures for issuing permits for activities related to the
cultivation, production, wholesale trade, transportation, circulation, import
and export of medicines, preparations and substances made from medical
cannabis.
A ministerial order was published in the
country's media, detailing the rules for growing medical and industrial hemp,
after it turned out that the existing regulations did not clearly convey
certain aspects of this activity.
The order also concerns amendments to
Regulation 83/2021, which defines the requirements and procedures for issuing
permits for the cultivation, production, wholesale trade, transportation,
circulation, import and export of medicines, preparations and substances made
from medical cannabis.
After the adoption of this departmental
document, the procedure for growing cannabis for industrial purposes has been
changed and now it differs significantly from the cultivation of plants used
for medical purposes. In particular, the new rules allow the cultivation of
industrial hemp exclusively outdoors and prohibit the cultivation of such
plants in greenhouses or their transplantation. Transportation of flowers,
whether they contain seeds or not, is also prohibited. The minimum production
area is set at half a hectare (5,000 square meters), with the exception of some
small farmers.
A separate section of the rules that
relate to medical cannabis has also been changed. In particular, for activities
related to the production of medical cannabis, the regulation requires that the
technical director be a pharmacist with special qualifications in the field of
cannabis. However, this requirement will not be mandatory in cases where the
company plans to produce exclusively active substances intended for the
pharmaceutical industry. In addition, the rules clarify certain points related
to the regulation of the wholesale trade in plants, flowers, as well as the
active substances of medical cannabis.
In addition, during the inspection of
objects intended for medical, medico-veterinary or research purposes, it is no
longer required to submit documents evidencing industrial crops of technical
hemp, which were mandatory before the adoption of a departmental regulatory
legal act. These rules apply when the operations to be carried out are
exclusively the first processing, cutting and drying of plants, carried out in
accordance with good manufacturing practice for active substances of medicinal
products for human use, approved by the Delegated Regulation (EC) of the
Commission 1252/2014 dated May 28, 2014.
Commentary of the specialists of the
Association “Ukrainian Industrial Hemp”
Despite the fact that since 2018 the use
of hemp for medical purposes has been regulated in Portugal, there are actually
no alternatives in the country to the only hemp pharmacological drug sold at a
relatively high price, even though part of its cost is compensated by the state
budget.
This information is interesting for
national cannabis growers in that in countries with a developed hemp industry,
the concepts of medical and technical hemp are clearly separated, and the
development of the regulatory framework governing various segments of modern
hemp growing is developing in parallel, without trying to infringe on the
possibilities of one sector of hemp management at the expense of another.
