On 25 September, PTMC hosted its seventh version in central Lisbon, amid a rising sense that Portugal’s medical hashish sector has reached an inflection level.
Delegates had been eager to trade views on whether or not, and the way, Portugal can keep and strengthen its place as Europe’s main producer and exporter, towards the backdrop of home developments and wider shifts within the European hashish business.
Opening Session – Infarmed (Portugal’s Hashish Regulator)
Dr Vasco Bettencourt – Director, Infarmed Licensing Unit
- The message was a constructive one, emphasising the resilience of the sector and the necessity for transparency.
- Within the wake of the ‘Erva Daninha’ operation by Portuguese authorities, which uncovered a legal organisation energetic throughout the nation’s hashish business, Dr Bettencourt assured delegates that this was an remoted case, not consultant of the sector.
- Transferring ahead, the main focus for Infarmed is ready to be on addressing delays in licensing, whereas implementing new qualification techniques, new monitoring techniques for regulatory oversight, and implementing the UN’s software program for registering and monitoring import and export shipments.
Pharmaceutical Science and Innovation in Hashish Merchandise and Medicines
(Moderator) Sarah Sinclair – Hashish Well being, Fátima Godinho Carvalho – LEF, Danny Andrea – Curaleaf, Amit Edri – Portocanna, Helena Correia – Hashish Advisor
Key Takeaways:
- Probably the most vital space of innovation in medical hashish is within the processes of its manufacturing. Reliability, stability, and reproducibility of the manufacturing course of are key.
- The panel additionally touched on the constraints which the regulatory setting imposes – all innovation has to stay compliant with a patchwork of regulatory techniques in Europe, in addition to the problem of working inside EUGMP with plant materials like hashish flower.
- Additionally talked about was that conventional RCTs don’t totally go well with hashish, because of product variation, and psychoactive results rendering placebo controls troublesome. Actual-world trials are more and more getting used even in customary drugs, and they are going to be key for growing proof for medical hashish.
Constructing a Profitable Hashish Firm: The best way to Entice Funding and Obtain ROI?
(Moderator) Laura Ramos – CannaReporter, Franziska Katterbach – Oppenhoff, Michael Sassano – Somaí Prescribed drugs, Joana Silveira Botelho – Cuatrecasas, António Vieira – AceCann
Key Takeaways:
- Founders ought to begin with an genuine thought and determine a transparent, uninhabited area of interest.
- It shouldn’t simply be a case of chasing the hype; in any other case the enterprise just isn’t sustainable.
- The outdated race to be first and largest is over, firms now want clear worth propositions and practical enterprise plans.
- Success requires persistence with prolonged timelines and upfront funding in robust authorized/compliance buildings, contracts, audits, and due diligence. This may save money and time in the long term.
- A typical pitfall is underestimating (or understating to buyers) how lengthy it takes to go from licensing to gross sales. Markets are unstable, and roadmaps from previous successes don’t all the time apply.
- The business ought to come collectively to drive change, but it surely’s not all the time mandatory to vary the legislation. The regulator is commonly in a position to make adjustments throughout the present authorized framework with out having to undergo parliament.
Cultivating, Processing, Distributing in Europe
(Moderator) Margarita Cardoso de Meneses – CannaReporter, Xavier Gaya – Cultivation Advisor, Rui Soares – Paralab, Inês Campos Lima – BioLeaf Well being, Louis Golaz – RED Horticulture
Key Takeaways:
- Too typically the main focus is simply on yield, however assessing efficiency ought to be extra subtle, e.g. measuring yield per kilowatt hour.
- Opposite to what’s typically stated by firms organising cultivation in Portugal, it isn’t the perfect local weather for cultivation. The excessive warmth ranges make greenhouse rising troublesome, as a major power expenditure is required to maintain temperatures down in summer time. Excessive humidity additionally poses numerous issues.
- HVAC and drying rooms are main ache factors. Poor techniques result in contamination dangers, pricey cleansing, and presumably necessitate irradiation, resulting in client rejection in Germany.
- Scaling manufacturing requires discovering the right combination of automation and handbook work throughout cultivation and post-harvest; some components of the method actually require a handbook contact, others may be automated.
- Stability of genetics underpins constant SOPs and finish merchandise. Rising options embrace F1 seeds and triploid vegetation, shifting away from legacy practices. Begins with genetics, then cautious environmental optimisation.
Hashish provide chain world wide: Tendencies of Worldwide Markets
(Moderator) Arnau Valdovinos – Cannamonitor, Alfredo Pascual – Analyst, Natalia Lopez – Former Chief Cultivator, Thai Stick, Rob Smallman – International Hashish Alternate, Sita Schubert – European Medicinal Hashish Affiliation (EUMCA)
Key Takeaways:
- Thai hashish is already reaching Australia and will enter Germany as early as the tip of the yr, although regulatory delays stay doubtless.
- Offers are sometimes slowed or blocked by inconsistent labelling, packaging, and cannabinoid content material.
- Corporations have unrealistic expectations for market entry timelines – first exports from Canada to Europe usually take 3–5 months.
- Capital has chased self-importance metrics (capability, licences, nations) reasonably than aggressive edge, leaving many operators with out sustainable enterprise fashions.
- There are misconceptions round product high quality – THC efficiency and recency of harvest are sometimes used as proxies for high quality. Whereas freshness is necessary, flower dated 3 months from harvest can nonetheless be of top quality.
- Upcoming German regulatory reforms (debated Oct 8) may convey tighter restrictions and additional value compression.
- Nationwide registration processes and European monographs for flower and extracts are rising, however harmonisation stays sluggish. Present contaminant limits are borrowed from different pharmacopoeia requirements reasonably than being based mostly on cannabis-specific information.
100 Years of World’s Prohibition, 25 of Decriminalization in Portugal: Future Paths
(Moderator) Laura Ramos – CannaReporter, Carl L. Hart – Columbia College, NYC, Alfredo Pascual – Analyst, Bárbara do Amaral Correia – PSD, Jorge Miguel Teixeira – Iniciativa Liberal, Cláudia Estêvão – Chega
Key Takeaways:
- Like Uruguay in 2013, Portugal has pioneered regulatory change in hashish regulation, however not continued to develop.
- Portugal is now forward of different nations in constructing an business, but it dangers stagnating by means of an absence of additional constructive engagement from the federal government.
- Leisure hashish regulation is on the agenda of debate and debate throughout the ruling coalition in Portugal; nevertheless, the route of policymaking and laws remains to be growing
- The talk round hashish and the route of policymaking is simply too typically indifferent from scientific analysis. There are additionally vital points with scientific information and research being performed or interpreted with particular political outcomes in thoughts.
The submit PTMC Lisbon 2025: Portugal’s Hashish Trade at a Vital Inflection Level appeared first on Enterprise of Hashish.
