The Bloco de Esquerda (The Left Bloc), Portugal’s left-wing democratic socialist party, has renewed its calls for cannabis legalisation.
The party delivered a new draft law to the Assembly of the Republic this week proposing the legalisation of cannabis for personal use, as reported by CannaReporter. The Left Bloc proposes that Portugal changes its laws to permit the online sale of cannabis, home cultivation of up to five plants and the authorisation of brick and mortar cannabis establishments.
Contrary to previous attempts to legalise recreational cannabis, the socialist party has dropped its original proposal to prohibit edible cannabis products, while “the sale of cannabis enriched with aromas, flavors or additives” and synthetic cannabis would remain banned.
“The State must regulate the entire cultivation, production and distribution circuit, being able to determine a maximum THC limit, as well as the consumer price, in order to combat trafficking and the illegal market”, the draft states.
“The retail sale of cannabis plants, substances or preparations for personal consumption without a medical prescription and provided that for purposes other than medicinal ones, is subject to authorisation from the General Directorate of Economic Activities”.
The party sees legalisation as a strategy for combatting the black market, “manipulated substances” and “uninformed consumption”.
“The prohibitionist policy is not a solution, in fact, it is an integral part of the problem and enhances its aggravation, protecting the clandestinity of trafficking and jeopardising public health,” the law draft reads.
“Legalising cannabis for personal use – more commonly known as recreational use – is to combat trafficking networks and is to combat organised crime networks that are often financed through the trafficking of substances like cannabis.”
The Left Bloc’s previous submitted its previous proposal last year but the draft expired with the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic at the end of last year.