The use of cannabis products for medical purposes was approved in parliament today, Friday 15th June, by all the parliamentary parties with the exception of the opposition CDS, which abstained.
The parliamentary committee on health had issued the final document for discussion by MPs, which reinforced the role of drugs regulator, Infarmed, but stopped short of recommending the drug could be grown at home for a bit of 'self-medication.'
Only Doctors will be able to prescribe cannabis and preparations based on the plant, and then only if other conventional therapies have had adverse or undesired effects.
The regulation of the therapeutic use of cannabis, "can not under any circumstances be used to legitimise or promote its use as a recreational drug."
The Minister of Health, Adalberto Campos Fernandes, expressed his opinion in January in favour of cannabis for therapeutic purposes, provided that it is strictly regulated.
This was the big step forward that was needed even though the new law stipulates that cannabis can only be consumed in a medicinal form with a prescription from a Doctor and bought in pharmacies.
