“The essence of the cannabis social club model is sharing,” explained a cannabis activist to a group of international professionals, who came to Barcelona to study the pioneering cannabis policies of Catalonia.
Indeed, after attending the study tour in Barcelona and being able to speak to many local activists, professionals, researchers, and harm reduction service providers, I tend to agree with this statement.
Cannabis social clubs are very different from all other forms of legal (or quasi-legal) cannabis distribution systems I have seen before. They are unlike the North American cannabis dispensaries – commercial shops where people can buy their weed, just like their beer, to go home to smoke or eat it. But they are also different from the Dutch coffee shops – cafés run by private enterprises, where people can buy and smoke their joints on site, like clients drink their beer in a pub.
Making profit has never been the primary goal of a cannabis social club – or at least not in the original concept: a community-driven, non-commercial alternative to both prohibition, with its unregulated market, and commercialisation, with its business enterprises. Cannabis social clubs – introduced more than 25 years ago – established a community of cannabis users whose members sign an agreement to grow, distribute, and consume cannabis together.
There are two types of clubs, as a government official of the Catalan health department explained us. The “romantic” clubs mostly serve the community. But there are many clubs that only want to make money and operate without community principles.
During the study tour we visited plenty of cannabis social clubs and could see different kinds of models in operation. There were clubs where the community spirit was almost tangible, but there were also places where it was absent and replaced by smart marketing. We visited clubs in airless, poorly ventilated and lit cellars, where I had a claustrophobic feeling. But we also went to clubs with a spacious, welcoming atmosphere, with a nice garden where you could even sit down with your grandma to chat.
The scene has been diversifying a lot – but it remains what it has always been: an innovation born of necessity. Attempts to regulate it have remained unsuccessful so far. There is an ongoing struggle between the communities of cannabis users, supported by the Catalan government, and the central Spanish government, that has remained hostile to the whole social experiment since the beginning.
When the Catalan government, responding to a civil society initiative approved by the Parliament, created a law to regulate cannabis social clubs, the Constitutional Court of Spain annulled the law. As a result, cannabis social clubs are not recognised by the law, they can only work as private clubs and plantations, more or less tolerated by the local police, but from time to time raided by the Spanish and Catalan police.
All this shows the futility and stupidity of prohibition: you must be blind not to see that a smart regulation would make the situation better for everyone, smoker and non-smoker alike.
The current lawlessness only favours the illegal market, with all its uncertainties and violence. The mafia is getting stronger, there are 5-6 people killed every year in gang violence and competition among criminal organisations. As Óscar Pares from ICEERS explained to us, it is dubbed “the mexicanisation of society”. That is, the illicit economy colonises more and more private services and markets.
One of the problems with the unregulated market is that there is still no quality control in the clubs. However, people do have access to high quality drug checking services. We visited the lab of Energy Control, the best known organisation, where we were introduced to the different methods of identifying substances and counselling the users about the possible risks. Energy Control has successfully detected synthetic cannabinoids and other dangerous substances in cannabis samples in the past. According to the studies among the users of the service, the program saves lives.
One of the highlights of the study tour (at least for me) was to listen to the presentation of REMA, a community organisation created by women who use cannabis. The group aims to address issues like perinatal health assistance, the reappropriation of female bodies/fighting sexism in the cannabis industry, and integrating a gender perspective in health services. Although we know that an increasing number of women use cannabis in Europe, their voice is rarely heard – and the cannabis industry is still very male dominated.
During my stay, I was able to join the International Women’s Day March in Barcelona, an incredibly energising and inspiring event, with tens of thousands of girls and women rallying for more gender equality and justice. We met with members of the pioneering community-based harm reduction organisation, Metzineres, that provides a safe haven for women who survived the harsh street life (watch our movie here).
Despite the unfinished state of this model and despite all other difficulties, Barcelona is still a shining beacon when it comes to cannabis policies. It is not the perfect regulation that makes this model so appealing but the strong community behind it. The activists who risked imprisonment and stood in solidarity with those arrested by the police. The lawyers who dedicated time and energy to provide legal support and launch strategic litigation cases. The researchers who conducted their studies and produced evidence even when funding was not available. Civil society organisations that provide drug checking and other harm reduction services for cannabis users.
The study tour was organised by the International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service (ICEERS), a Barcelona-based organisation dedicated to transforming society’s relationship to psychedelic plants. It was an honour to be one of the participants of this study tour, together with experts from Colombia, Mexico, Switzerland, the UK, the US, Barbados, South Africa, and Malta. I felt privileged to be there even more because all countries, with the exception of my own, Hungary, have been pioneering some progressive reforms in cannabis policies in recent years.
