Spain has taken a liberal approach to cannabis regulation since the 1970s.[1] A de facto legalisation of cannabis supply has arisen from the persistent testing of Spain’s legal boundaries by civil society. Grey areas in the legislation meant that cannabis social clubs (CSCs) emerged in the early 2000s, producing cannabis for non-profit distribution solely to a closed group of adult members. These non-commercial organisations do not have specific formal regulation or nation-wide criteria, but certain areas have enforced regulation of some aspects of CSCs.

Because of the lack of clear regulation, associations have had to improvise and invent solutions in order to standardise their activities, including development of self-regulative documents. There is no specific formal regulation for cannabis social clubs and no nationwide criteria with regards to locations, but some areas have enforced regulation of some aspects of CSCs. Guidelines differ by region, e.g. maximum number of members, quantity of cannabis to each member, residence criteria for membership etc. There is a variety of models and the practice of some individual CSCs has deviated from their federations’ code of conduct.[2]

There are few studies of the impact of decriminalisation of cannabis and the emergence of cannabis social clubs in Spain. For the Catalonia region, estimates suggest 250,000 individuals used cannabis in the past 30 days and 165,000 people who use cannabis were members of cannabis social clubs, around 3% and 2% of the population respectively.[3]

References

[1] Decorte et al., “Regulating Cannabis Social Clubs: A Comparative Analysis of Legal and Self-Regulatory Practices in Spain, Belgium and Uruguay,” International Journal of Drug Policy 43 (2017)

[2] Belackova et al., “Consumer Agency in Cannabis Supply – Exploring Auto-Regulatory Documents of the Cannabis Social Clubs in Spain,” International Journal of Drug Policy 54 (2018)

[3] Belackova et al., “Consumer Agency in Cannabis Supply – Exploring Auto-Regulatory Documents of the Cannabis Social Clubs in Spain,” International Journal of Drug Policy 54 (2018)