Medicinal Cannabis product approved in Portugal

Cannabis plant close up

Canadian Cannabis International giant, Tilray, which specializes in medicinal cannabis derivatives and operates from its facilities in Cantanhede (30 kilometers from Coimbra), has recieved an authorisation from INFARMED that allows the company to sell its medicinal cannabis products in selected pharmacies in Portugal.

Tilray's Portuguese headquarters, which have a strategic location between Lisbon and Porto, will convert this innovative drug into reality.

Dry medicinal cannabis flowers with 18% THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), have been speculated to be sold in pharmacies starting this month, April 2021.

In order to be able to buy the patient has to have a prescription.

This medicinal cannabis, which will be sold in units of 15 grams, is yet to be priced and it is unknown how much the Portuguese government will subsidize us or the consumer.

Medicinal Cannabis can treat an enormous range of diseases and conditions including cancer, MS associated spasticity, Tourette syndrome, epilepsy, therapeutic-resistant glaucoma, some forms of chronic pain and many more ailments.

The specific Cannabis cultivar that will be available in the pharmacies is yet to be tested and fully determined with which diseases or conditions it will help treat; not suprising if you take into account how new the medicinal cannabis field is to modern medicine, let alone to Portugal and INFARMED.

This is the second cannabis-based product approved in Portugal. The first was Sativex, which fights the involuntary increase in muscle contraction. To approve the second cannabis-based product it took much longer, mostly because of the COVID-19 pandemic which was responsible for a year of delay and reduced government response.

This is the start of a very bright new age for Portugal; having medicinal cannabis products in pharmacies, many companies are obtaining licensing and are on the path of releasing different cannabis strains over the next few years. These will help treat a wide range of diseases and conditions and improve the quality of life of many patients. Economically speaking, this will also improve the state of Portugal as a country. Portugal has an extremely unique chance to be the main supplier of medicinal cannabis in Europe.