Medical Cannabis Network sent journalist Stephanie Price to see for herself the enormous scale of the project and the preparation processes that European medical cannabis companies in Portugal are required to meet at each stage of a project.
Stephanie, who spent a couple of days with the Symtomax team onsite in Beja, Portugal, to see and understand the complex processes necessary in applying for a medical cannabis cultivation license in Portugal and what the whole process entails. The scale of the site is in itself impressive, but speaking with the people involved gives you a real insight into the amount of work necessary before you even start to sow a seed.
Approval to start the implementation process for cultivation, as well as approval for an import and export licence in Portugal, was secured by Symtomax through Infarmed – the Portuguese Government agency accountable to the Health Ministry.
To gain approval from the Portuguese licensing authorities for agricultural sites, applicants have to comply with the Good Agricultural and Harvesting Practices guidelines. Some of these measures include implementing high-level security on site, informing of the expertise of staff members, an overview of tracing and tracking software, demonstrating plans of the cultivation site including agricultural fields, greenhouses, propagation rooms, and demonstrating quality control processes.
In preparation, Symtomax is now just weeks away from planting its first seeds. Security has been implemented, the greenhouses are ready to go up, and all plans for the water systems, propagation, cultivation and drying facilities have been put in place, and all documents are ready for inspection.
Experts at Symtomax include some of the most experienced cultivators in the industry, and the likes of Portugal’s former State Secretary of Health and Chairman of the Infarmed Board of Directors, Eurico Carlos Alves, currently a Professor of Surgery at the Integrated Master of Medicine of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, and David Mace, an ex GW pharmaceutical Audit Chairman.
To gain approval from the Portuguese licensing authorities for agricultural sites, applicants have to comply with the Good Agricultural and Harvesting Practices guidelines. Some of these measures include implementing high-level security on site, informing of the expertise of staff members, an overview of tracing and tracking software, demonstrating plans of the cultivation site including agricultural fields, greenhouses, propagation rooms, and demonstrating quality control processes.
