The demand for cannabis, and continued push for reform, is steadily increasing across Europe as more countries look to introduce medical and recreational laws. Of course, Germany has been on the lips of many as it prepares to usher in a new era of legal adult-use cannabis, but Spain is making moves of its own.
The country is already a medical cannabis giant, reporting a 53% increase in legal production last year and landing the title as the seventh largest producer of medical cannabis in the world, according to a translated Publico report. After producing 23.4 tons of medical cannabis last year, the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) projects that Spain will produce a whopping 36 tons of medical cannabis in 2024, depending on the Ministry of Health.
There is a certain irony that comes with these figures, however, in that Spain has yet to actually legalize and regulate medical cannabis within the country. Though, according to its newly appointed health minister, that could soon change.
During her first appearance in Congress on Jan. 26, Mónica García Gómez underscored her intentions to push Spain’s recent efforts to establish a medical cannabis framework, Business of Cannabis reports.
The government had considered legislation with the Spanish Parliament approving a draft document to legalize medical cannabis, though it was ultimately tabled during the previous legislative season. According to García, the Ministry of Health is now looking to get the process back on track by reviewing the existing draft legislation more than 18 months later.
The draft is based on the findings of a Congressional committee and received support from all parties apart from Partido Popular and Vox, who each voted against it.
García highlighted medical cannabis as a priority while laying out other general focuses from her department over the coming year as she made her inaugural address to Congress.
“We are facing another important issue for the future of public health in our country, which is the regulation of cannabis for therapeutic use,” she said. “Spain cannot remain on the sidelines of international advances in this field, and therefore, it is imperative to address this issue with scientific rigor, ethical responsibility, and social sensitivity.”
The subcommittee in charge of investigating medical cannabis frameworks shared its proposal for a potential Spanish framework back in June 2022, with the plan receiving the green light to move forward later that month. Spain’s political climate and elections are often cited when it comes to the delays of the plan, which was initially set to be implemented in January 2023.
García said that these original proposals will still be used by the Health Ministry to create medical cannabis legislation. The department said that it has already drafted a ministerial order, meant to take the initial steps to enable legal access to medical cannabis for patients in need.
While it has not yet explained what the latest version of the bill contains, or what updates have been made, the original recommendations approved by the Health Commission suggest that cannabis only be prescribed by specialist doctors and dispensed exclusively in hospital pharmacies. Though it also allowed for the potential shift for general practitioners to prescribe and for community pharmacies to carry medical cannabis.
The initial recommendations also named spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis, certain forms of epilepsy, nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, endometriosis and chronic pain as qualifying conditions.
The Ministry of Health is now scheduled to hold meetings with different stakeholder groups, and local media has reported that meetings have already been scheduled for early February.
“We have a clear roadmap. Under these foundations, in the coming months, we will take the next steps for the approval and implementation of the new regulations,” García said.
