Cannabis for medical use will soon become legal in Spain, on May the 30th, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) or (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) sponsored a bill to make the use of medical marijuana legal nationwide. Although the proposed law calls for extremely strict distribution regulations, it is being welcomed as a first step that may eventually result in greater access to cannabis for the Spanish people.
The Spanish Medicines Agency now has less than six months to incorporate the new proposals into regulations after the Health Commission's approval this past June.
Even though this is only a very small first step, Spain is now the 6th European nation to formally legalise cannabis use, at least for medical purposes, after Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg, and Greece. The bill states that patients can obtain medical cannabis in hospital pharmacies with a doctor's prescription to treat multiple sclerosis-related chronic pain, some types of epilepsy, and chronic non-cancer pain.
Although the bill would allow access to new cannabis-based drugs without giving further details, patients will only be able to access Epidolex, the first FDA-approved CBD-based prescription to treat seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), Dravet syndrome, or Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) in patients one year of age or older, and Sativex, a THC and CBD-based mouth spray intended to alleviate symptoms of multiple sclerosis, both developed by UK-based pharmacist GW Pharmaceuticals. A far cry from the RSO oil that most people are taking at the moment.
Spain has decriminalised recreational cannabis, but only for individual growing and use; no medical cannabis legislation has yet been passed.
Carola Pérez, President of the Spanish Observatory of Medical Cannabis (OECM), explained that the bill wouldn't protect medical cannabis patients in the country as regulations are too restrictive. “Most patients will still be forced to source their medicine via clubs, home grows and the black market,” she was reported saying.
By the end of 2022, notwithstanding any remaining obstacles, medical cannabis will be accessible through Spanish hospital pharmacies with a prescription. But it’s not all good for most of the people in need of medical cannabis because they won't be able to obtain it thanks to high levels of bureaucracy that persist, otherwise there are roughly 300,000 domestic patients who could instantly benefit from this change in the law.
What Does This Mean For The Cannabis Clubs and Recreation use?
It is evident that Spain is being led down a path that has already been travelled by other European nations, such as Germany where the legalisation of medical cannabis spelt the demise of all grow shops and even made hemp/cannabis seeds illegal for public purchase and even possession, all in a futile attempt to eradicate the black market. So it is also unclear what the fate of the now famous cannabis clubs in Barcelona and all the other clubs found around Spain, which runs into the thousands, will be in this new environment. It could be that, like Holland, the Spanish authorities use this first medical opening to close down the clubs—although that is not really feasible at this juncture.
Let's hope that intelligence prevails as the benefits of cannabis, medically and recreationally, are so great that people should not be denied it by the pharmaceutical industry or persecuted for sourcing it elsewhere just because they are unable to produce it themselves.
