Times they are a changin´ warbled Bob Dylan in 1964 with a joint hanging from his pouty lips; and certainly they have with THC (Tetra-Hydro-Carbinol) content increasing from 2% in the 70s to 5% in the 90s and, with the intensification of cultured marijuana, to around 20% by 2015. By then, the traditional concept of hippies smoking pot and elderly ladies serving tea and cakes laced with cannabis has given way to the worldwide promotion of legalised “medicinal” products of an entirely different nature. What one thought of as “cannabis” extracted from plants has little similarity to the packaged items now sold on-line and at dispensaries. These are made by putting the pulverised marijuana into retorts through which are run mixtures of butane, ethanol, propane and carbon dioxide to derive a wax substance that can be as high as 60% THC. The wax can be further processed in vacuum ovens to produce an oil concentrate of 90% THC known as “dabs”.

Exhaustive research in Finland and Denmark has produced evidence that the manufacture and distribution within the EU of “medical cannabis” has boomed enormously due to its promotion by the industries which control the addiction businesses of alcohol, pharmaceuticals and tobacco. To these the cloak of being able to purvey marijuana-based products as clean, licensed medicines has been a godsend with potentially higher profits than those made from marketing old style drugs. The range now available via the internet and some pharmacies is colossal ranging through vape and joints to teas, juices, snacks and chocolate. All of this can be bought by “recommendations” which are not prescriptions but a form of discount card to encourage repeat orders and consequent dependency by consumers who are willingly convinced that aches and pains can be relieved by safe ingestion.

Yet, studies of this now widespread use of “dabs” made during the past seven years show that the risk of conversion of anxiety psychosis to disorders such as the schizophrenia-spectrum and bipolarity (also termed as manic depression) is exponential to the level of THC in the “medicine” and can lead to highly irrational behaviour. insanity and suicide.

The Portuguese social experiment of decriminalising the personal possession of hallucinatory substances has met with limited success in the 21st century; but neither the SNS nor the judiciary are prepared for the influx of this new and highly potent form of cannabis.

The developments which were proposed in 2022 by the German Eurox Group, Israeli owned Cann10-Portugal and other manufacturers to grow the plants and process marijuana in factories to be established in the districts of Castelo Branco, Vila de Rei and Grandola and to import similar products from Israel have now come to fruition. In consequence, Portugal may well become the gateway to Europe for the distribution of the New Age Weed and the consequent opening of costly rehabilitation clinics.

by Roberto Cavaleiro Tomar 06-06-2025