In #Portugal #cannabis #exports increased by 600% compared to #2020 and for #2022 the forecasts are rosy. At the end of 2019, in an interview #Eurico Castro #Alves, former #president of Infarmed (Autoridade Nacional do #Medicamento e Produtos de Saúde) stated that, within a few years, #cannabis would soon become one of the protagonists of the #Portuguese #GDP. A few years later we can say that the #forecast has come true, and well in advance.

In 2020 Portugal sold 4.5 tons of cannabis produced outside its national borders, in 2021 it reached the record figure of 30 tons, recording an increase of more than six times compared to the previous year. According to the latest #data shared by Infarmed, in the first two months of 2022 alone, 10 tons of cannabis have already been exported, which anticipates another record year.

In 2001 Portugal was in fact the first #European state to decriminalize the use of all narcotic substances and in #February 2019 the law authorizing the #cultivation and export of cannabis came into force. Furthermore, underlining the country’s potential is Olaf Van #Tulder, #executive director of Symtomax, a company based in #Porto that is developing the largest cultivation site in #Europe. “In #Greece electricity is very expensive, in Italy there are businesses you don’t want to be involved with. #Spain and #Portugal are the best countries for growing, in greenhouses or outdoors ”. Portugal continues to grow in cannabis exporting and hopes to increase the national GDP.