Portugal's parliament has approved the use of cannabis for medical purposes, in the final vote of a draft bill from the parliamentary committee on Health, kicked off by bills from the Left Bloc and PAN parties.
The document, which increases the role of state pharmaceutical agency Infarmed and introduces the possibility of the Military Laboratory contributing to the production of the medical grade cannabis, and without the initial proposal of the Left Bloc to legalise self-cultivation, was approved with votes from opposition party PSD, the ruling PS party, the Left Bloc, Portuguese communist party PCP, the green party PEV, people and naimals party PAN and abstentions by right-wing party CDS-PP.
The text stipulates that a doctor should prescribe medical cannabis or preparation based on the cannabis plant, which considers substances ranging from oils to dehydrated flowers, but only if other conventional therapies have adverse or unwanted effects.
Source: TPN/LUSA
