Spanish police arrest “Europe’s largest cannabis farm” – despite only growing hemp

On Wednesday, Spanish authorities announced the destruction of 415,000 cannabis plants worth an estimated $108 million. Police claimed this was a vital strike against Europe’s “biggest cannabis plantation”.

Around 50 tons of plants were dried in a warehouse in the rural region of Navarre. The plantation covered 166 acres of land. The owners now face criminal prosecution.

But this is where the story starts to get really weird.

The plants were all hemp, with low levels of THC — a substance no longer considered a “narcotic,” at least at the European level. The sale and consumption of CBD is also legal in Spain.

Spanish cultivation and legality

This case is one of the strangest to make headlines in recent times, precisely because it highlights the legal confusion over the status of cannabis and hemp across the sovereignty reform of a single European country.

Legally, the cultivation of cannabis in Spain (including CBD) is only allowed if the grower is cultivating “industrial hemp”. Growing hemp for conversion into CBD remains a criminal offense. In fact, Article 368 of the Spanish Penal Code criminalizes the cultivation of cannabis if it encourages, encourages or facilitates the illegal use of “drugs” with a sentence of between 3 and 6 years imprisonment.

However, this case is a legal curiosity. European law, which Spain of course does not comply with at this point, does not define hemp with more than 0.02% CBD as a narcotic. In this case, the farmer apparently planned to export the dried plant to other countries for this extraction process.

Additionally, in the Kanavape case, companies are allowed to export hemp flower and low-THC products across country borders for sale if they are legally produced in the country of origin — which also appears to be the case here, as the farmer claimed that he this is done. Although the crop was described as industrial hemp in Spain, the intent to export and then extract was apparently what prompted the police action.

It will be interesting to watch the development of this case.

The Urgent Need for European Reform

Cases like these underscore the growing need for a regional approach to comprehensive cannabis reform. The problem seen in Spain (home, let’s not forget the non-profit cannabis clubs where high THC buds are available) is also evident in other countries.

In Germany, the import of CBD can still lead to legal action by overzealous public prosecutors. This was also the case in France until the Kanavape case, which then of course called into question EU law on the subject – and also set an EU-wide precedent that hemp legally produced in one member state could also be exported to another can .

Proceedings are currently pending in Germany in which an attempt is made to bring German law into line with the EU in this matter.

This case, if properly defended, could set a precedent in Spain.

However, until these matters are resolved, work remains a dangerous endeavour, even in the CBD area of ​​Europe.

Finally, less than a year ago, German food retailer Lidl was raided by police in Munich for the “crime” of selling biscuits and other CBD-containing products.

In the meantime…

The entire European cannabis industry is indeed becoming more dangerous, not less, even as reforms progress in individual countries and an EU-wide policy on CBD is established. This is true even in Holland, home of coffeeshops, where a national process to regulate cannabis cultivation is underway, but the mayor of Amsterdam wants to ban tourists from coffeeshops and close about two-thirds of them.

In Germany, there are currently several hundred cases pending against legitimate companies selling hemp – although the new government has announced its intention to create a recreational market for high-THC cannabis.

In addition, there are approximately 185,000 investigations pending nationwide against recreational users who have been arrested by the police for possession or even home cultivation for personal use. These numbers also do not include patients, including those whose insurance companies have refused to cover medicinal cannabis even though such treatment was recommended by their doctors.

As the saying goes, it’s always darkest before dawn.