Spains Cannabis Tourism goes to Parliament

There is no
doubt that Spain, particularly its Catalonia region, has
been erupting onto the worldwide cannabis scene ever since it was
decriminalized in 2006. Since then, over 600 social clubs have sprouted up all
over the country.

More than half
of them are in Catalonia, a region no bigger than Connecticut!

The fact
that these clubs are operating is because of the legal confusion that
decriminalization brings. Because of this, the Spanish government has finally
begun to take steps to assure that the issue is addressed.

When the
whole concept of cannabis clubs initially began to take root, an independent
organization called the Federal Cannabis Association (FCA) tried to regulate
the social clubs by setting up some general rules for anyone looking to open up
a club in their area to follow.

A club
couldn’t advertise, it was allowed to grow two plants per member and it should’ve
been run as a non-profit business with a minimum age requirement of 18 to
become a member.

The original
rules dictated by the FCA were intended to give its members access of up to a
maximum 98 grams (or 3 ½ ounces) a month for a small monthly fee of around 75
Euro.

The
organization purposely tried to set up a system that didn’t resemble
Amsterdam’s, where any outsider can go to a shop and buy cannabis. Instead, the
social clubs were meant to be a local place where people could gather and
commiserate amongst themselves and enjoy the club’s cannabis.

If you
account for the generally warm and sunny weather, the incredible site-seeing and
the cheaper prices when compared to Amsterdam, there is no doubt why Spain has
seen a boom of tourism and is becoming Europe’s number one cannabis
destination.

Barcelona
has over 300 clubs located in areas heavily frequented by tourists and it seems
that the clubs didn’t want to disappoint or miss out on making some serious
cash from cannabis-seeking tourists. Clubs could make huge profits, and judging
by some of the recent police raids on social clubs where double the amount of
permitted plants were on hand, some did profit.

Of course,
not everyone in the country’s Parliament is “feeling the vibe” on this
freewheeling view and ease-of-access to cannabis. The government’s latest
sudden interest to take action is most likely tied to some recent headlines
dealing with crackdowns on two cannabis club grow locations.

But it’s not
just the politicians who are looking to create some legal framework; the FCA itself
is looking to uphold its original idea of the clubs, even if it has to come to
legislation.

One might
predict that allowing the government of Spain to create new laws could be a
sketchy subject because the government would be representing other regions of
Spain who do not have any cannabis clubs, so new laws could certainly do more
harm than good.

This
possibility has already motivated cannabis supporters to gather the respectable
number of signatures needed to start citizen’s initiatives on cannabis reform
within the regions. There shouldn’t be any doubt that the cannabis aficionados
are going to want to have a say in the laws that will legitimize Spain’s bustling
industry.

In
September, when the Spanish parliament votes on the laws they’re currently
creating, we’ll see if the pro-cannabis public will be pleased or pushed into
action.