Will cracking down on the cannabis social clubs in Barcelona enforce the legalization problem in Spain?

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Forbes, which generally has excellent reporting on the subject, reports the bad news from Barcelona: A decision by Catalonia’s Superior Court repealed a 2016 ordinance approved by the Barcelona City Council Cannabis Social Clubs operate in the city.

Most of the social clubs in Madrid and other cities are closed or are very reluctant to work. In recent years, however, the number of clubs in Barcelona has exploded and there are – or have been – several hundred, including some very generous clubs. The clubs should be places where members share their cannabis, maybe grow it together, etc. Yes, of course.

In the real world, it was very easy to join and there was cannabis for sale.

Photo by Henrique Ferreira via Unsplash

The new decision could force them to close, but Barcelona police have told clubs that they can only allow members to smoke their own cannabis.

Speaking of the real world, in the early days of Amsterdam and Vancouver etc. there was usually a “house dealer”, the guy in the corner. In Mellow Yellow, Amsterdam’s first “coffee shop”, the house dealer had a stool with a slot in which to hide his supplies in case the police showed up.

In the meantime, Spain is the country in Europe most in need of marijuana legalization.

First, Spain is only 13 km on the other side of the river Strait of Gibraltar the end Moroccowhich has long been a source of traditional hashish and, more recently, all other contraband drugs, especially cocaine, which are then distributed across Europe.

There are obvious parallels with American relations with Mexico, in particular that traditional cannabis smuggling (hashish) has lost its importance as hard drugs, especially since cannabis is now widely grown in Europe as well as in the United States

Spain has the ideal climate for growing and the southeast coast is an important agricultural area. It seems obvious that Spain should follow the US, Canada and several former Spanish colonies in legalizing cannabis.

Photo by Ken Cheung via Unsplash

Also, Spain is more dependent on international tourism than any other large European country and of course the pandemic has devastated its economy. Spain has also long had major problems with unemployment among young people who would be ideal for the cannabis sector.

Unfortunately, the national government in Madrid has avoided the issue and the Spanish media are treating it as a crime issue but fail to recognize the economics of contraband which makes a ban counterproductive.

SEE: Iron Prohibition Act

In Barcelona, ​​the closure of the “social clubs” for tourists will be a severe blow to the hotel and tourism industry, which has already been destroyed. Without going into the often bizarre complications of Catalan politics, there is a strong, generally left-wing drive for independence that usually receives around half the vote. Although this judgment comes from a Catalan court, it is rightly charged with the national government. Not helpful.

In fact, this ruling could be so damaging to both the economic and political situation that it could eventually force Spain to face the drug war. The easy way out for Madrid would be something like the US approach of leaving cannabis laws to the autonomous regions and redirecting law enforcement to hard drugs.

Richard Cowan is a former NORML National Director and author of About The Roles Of Stars In The CBD Industry.