By Max Sargent


Spain has long had a permissive attitude toward cannabis, with personal use being decriminalised in the 1970s. Indeed, in Barcelona, a statue of Christopher Columbus bears a relief of two cannabis plants growing up the column. He is well-known for using hemp in many things, including the sails of his ships, and is rumoured to have smoked it. It is even thought that he may have smuggled it into Europe.

So cannabis is a part of Spanish history and culture, and nowhere is this more obvious than in Barcelona’s cannabis social clubs. These non-profit clubs exist to allow members to enjoy growing and smoking cannabis in a safe, legal environment. But a lack of legislation alongside poor enforcement leave these permissions open to abuse by criminal gangs. What can be done? And does it threaten Spain’s cannabis scene?

What Is a Cannabis Social Club in Spain?

The cannabis social clubs of Spain, particularly Barcelona, are the result of soft legislation and legal grey areas, rather than legalization or even decriminalisation. A cannabis club in Spain is, supposedly, a non-profit group organisation of members who come together and pay upkeep fees to smoke and grow cannabis. Selling cannabis is not legal, and so membership fees are only supposed to cover the club's operational costs.

There are many of these clubs now—hundreds, in fact. While some are official, others slip under the radar. Likewise, some stay more explicitly within the confines of the law, serving only a select number of trusted members, while others are essentially open to everyone, including tourists. In the past, people were only able to gain membership via a recommendation from an existing member. This kept the clubs close-knit, personal, and small. These days, however, many clubs have open doors, and business is booming.

  • What Does the Law Actually Say About Cannabis Clubs?

The law around cannabis social clubs is somewhat vague, and they exist by (in theory) not breaking any laws, rather than adhering to them. In Spain, it is not illegal to smoke cannabis on private property. And it is by working within this loophole that cannabis clubs are able to operate.

As stated, clubs are officially non-profit; the members simply pay an upkeep fee and get free weed in return. The weed grown by the club must be proportionate to the membership (around 3 grams per person) in order for it to count as being grown for personal use. Essentially, in a legal sense, these clubs are little more than a group of friends meeting up to grow and smoke cannabis together. In reality, though, things can be much different.

What Is a Cannabis Social Club in Spain?

The Rise of Cannabis Tourism

Amsterdam is probably the most famous place in Europe for cannabis tourism, but as legislation tightens there, eyes are moving southward to Spain. In Amsterdam, the legal situation is very different, if not equally murky. Growing cannabis in the Netherlands for any purpose is illegal, but selling it within a coffeeshop is not. Where do they get their cannabis from, you ask? From illegal grows, the product of which becomes legal once it enters a coffeeshop. A strange set of circumstances indeed!

In Spain, however, it is legal for the clubs to grow and distribute their cannabis, so long as it is only to members. But how do you define a member?

With a lack of legislation and guidance surrounding membership of cannabis clubs in Spain, gaining access to one can be as simple as filling out an online form. This permissive attitude has its pros and cons. On the one hand, it means that pretty much anybody over the age of 18 can join a cannabis club and have access to good-quality weed in a usually safe and friendly environment.

On the other hand, it inevitably changes the culture from one that revolves around enjoying cannabis—and staying legal—to one that has a huge membership and must find ways to ensure this membership is continually supplied with cannabis.

Organised Crime Steps In

With such a huge membership, these clubs clearly have the potential to be hugely profitable. And as they are legally not supposed to make a profit, this is where problems begin to occur.

With ever-growing and fluctuating memberships, it can be difficult for clubs to grow enough weed for their members. As they can only grow a proportionate amount to their membership, and if their membership is always rising, there is going to be a continual deficit of weed available to them. Therefore, it becomes necessary for them to import weed from larger farms. At this point, it becomes illegal.

These larger farms, which operate to service cannabis clubs and coffeeshops, are run by criminals—often using a single club as a front to excuse the farm. As time goes on, these are more and more likely to become dangerous, organised groups that compete to make a profit.

But that’s not all. Spain is becoming one of the world’s leading cannabis exporters, especially in Europe, where Spanish weed can be found almost everywhere. Usually, it makes its way up through the Pyrenees to France, where it is then distributed across the continent.

This is causing significant problems for the image of cannabis clubs in Spain, because laws that were created to allow personal consumption are now being abused to facilitate the international drug trade.

Organised Crime Steps In

What Is Being Done About It?

There are numerous ways in which the Spanish authorities are dealing with, or considering dealing with, these issues. These range from tighter legislation to more relaxed legislation; but no matter which is chosen, without proper implementation, they are likely to continue to be abused.

  • Policing

As things stand, without the introduction of new laws, policing and managing these issues is all they can do. However, the police face significant issues when it comes to prosecuting offenders. Although the commercial production of cannabis in Spain is illegal, it tends to be met with fairly limited punishment.

As it’s a highly profitable industry, this makes the law little of a deterrent compared to the gains growers stand to make. So although the police are regularly raiding and destroying illegal grows, and arresting the growers, these people are commonly released with little to no punishment, and continue to operate. In practice, the maximum sentence for illegally growing cannabis is around two years, and often much less.

Likewise, policing can target the wrong people. Differentiating between legal and illegal grows can be difficult, and this means that many legitimate clubs are seeing their grows raided. Though further action may not be taken, this is still highly disruptive and casts a dark shadow on what is supposed to be a pleasant and relaxing pastime.

  • Tightening Legislation

Some suggest creating clearer, stricter legislation. Indeed, this happened in 2017 in Catalonia, and was known as the Rosa Verde[1]. The purpose of this legislation was to make clear the ways in which cannabis social clubs were allowed to operate, making it easier to determine which were acting legally and which were not. The regulations were as follows:

  • Clubs are only allowed to grow a maximum of 150kg of dried bud per year
  • Clubs must enforce a 15-day wait between application and acceptance of membership
  • Clubs must use registered carriers to transport cannabis from farm to club

What do these reforms do? They limit a club's scale, forcing them to stay within the boundaries already laid out: to operate non-profitably. By placing an absolute and equal limit on the amount of bud each club can produce, they effectively limit how many members they could have, thereby limiting their potential profitability.

Likewise, they make farms growing for illegal supply purposes easier to detect. Rather than trying to identify whether a farm is for a club or illegal enterprise, regulators only needed to identify how much a farm was producing.

The limit on membership waiting times was clearly an attempt to stop tourists from spontaneously joining. However, as online membership was available, this measure was easily overcome by simply signing up at least two weeks before arriving. Nonetheless, for those less prepared, this was obviously a first step in stemming cannabis tourism.

However, this legislation was overturned by the federal Spanish court in 2018. It was deemed unconstitutional.

Tightening Legislation

  • Broader Legalisation

Of course, rather than tightening legislation, why not relax it further? Some are calling for the regulations to be dropped, and for growing and profit-making to be legalized. The argument is well-known, and it goes that by legitimising the market, the criminal element would be ousted and the state would benefit from the profits.

So why not? There are numerous reasons that states are reluctant to fully legalize cannabis. For many, it is seen as creating an image problem. Within Europe, for instance, Spain would be the first country to fully legalize cannabis. While this would be seen as progressive by many, others would not share this point of view.

Moreover, were Spanish growers allowed to grow with abandon, it could serve only to proliferate the problems with the illicit international cannabis trade. By playing a role in supplying other countries with cannabis, it may not endear Spain to its European neighbours.

Domestically, while cannabis social clubs are tolerated and appreciated, commercialising the trade could be met with objection. As it stands, the promotion of cannabis is illegal. Were it commercially legalized, this and other laws could change. So rather than the state being seen as having a relaxed and liberal attitude toward peoples’ drug choices, it could be perceived as actively encouraging the use of cannabis.

  • The Current Situation

At present, Spain appears to be stuck in limbo. While Catalonia is clearly eager to push forward with legislation, hoping to regulate social clubs in order to continue their existence, the larger Spanish state is less certain with how to proceed. This means that, as things stand, they are set to continue in a loop of crime, arrests, and a lack of penalties.

Spain as an International Drug Hub

One of the dominant fears is that Spain has become, and will continue to be, a hub for the international drug trade. The world wants weed, and so long as legislation is lax in Spain, it is the perfect centre for the production of European cannabis. However, with a lack of any real regulations, criminal gangs are fulfilling this need. And where does that leave Spain?

People cite the examples of Afghanistan, Morocco, and Colombia as countries that have suffered enormously due to their prevalence as exporters of illegal drugs. There are fears that parts of Spain will head in the same direction if nothing is done about illegal growing.

Indeed, gangs already compete for space and customers. Growing is not only performed by passionate hobbyists, but has become a dangerous and lucrative business that many are willing to fight over.

Spain as an International Drug Hub

Cannabis Social Clubs: Progressive Dream or Legislative Nightmare?

On the face of it, a relaxed attitude toward cannabis consumption and growing in Spain is a great thing. And indeed, the thinking behind the law is that people have a right to grow and smoke cannabis if they want to, and that the state should take a liberal, laissez-faire attitude toward this.

However, vague legislation and limited enforcement against crime have led to these liberties being abused by organised criminal groups for the sake of profit, rather than for the enjoyment of cannabis.

With legitimate clubs being either raided by the police or intimidated by gangs, the atmosphere is changing from one of chilled relaxation to tense uncertainty. And what can be done? With the state unable to decide on a course of action, the current grey area is left exposed to abuse, which, in the long-run, could threaten the fate of liberal cannabis reform in Spain and beyond.

External Resources:
  1. BOE-A-2017-9367 Ley 13/2017, de 6 de julio, de las asociaciones de consumidores de cannabis. https://www.boe.es
Disclaimer:
This content is for educational purposes only. The information provided is derived from research gathered from external sources.

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: