Barcelona wants to put an end to cannabis clubs in the city. This was implied by the end of the license a few days ago for this type of clubs in Ciutat Vella and that message has now been reinforced with the sudden closure of 30 of the just over 200 cannabis clubs in the city.
As El Periódico has advanced and TV3 has confirmed , the consistory has ordered the closure from September of 30 associations in which irregularities have been detected, and the goal is to end up closing all in the city.
For the time being, the procedure is to order the closure of the club for six months to two years, depending on the irregularity detected, giving the affected entities 10 days to present allegations.
The clubs reported are the product of some 50 inspections conducted over the past three years, which have revealed the clubs that have provoked the most neighborhood complaints. One third of them are located in Ciutat Vella and in the Eixample.
The third deputy mayor of the Barcelona City Council, Albert Batlle, has made it clear, in statements to TV3, that the will of the consistory is to “put an end” to cannabis clubs as he considers that they are the origin of many “problems of coexistence”.
what is a cannabis club and why can you smoke marijuana inside?
A cannabis club, or cannabis association, is a private space where cannabis enthusiasts can meet and consume cannabis in a controlled and safe environment. The idea is that these associations operate as non-profit entities, in a private environment and away from public roads.
The problem is that none of the activities related to cannabis, from cultivation, joint or joint purchase, dispensation to consumption are regulated in any regulation, so these associations move in a legal gray that depends on the specific interpretation of each case of the authorities, law enforcement agencies and ultimately the Courts of Justice.
In practice, at least in Barcelona, many of these clubs have become, de facto, places to buy and sell and consume marijuana, creating spaces that serve to buy and consume in a regulated manner and in a safe environment, and with drugs that tend to seek certain quality standards.
These clubs have existed in the city since 1991, but began to grow around 2011. The different attempts to regulate them have clashed with Justice, which has always considered that marijuana is a drug and, therefore, the only administration that can legislate is the central government.
But in 2021 the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, while annulling a city council regulation to regulate them, prohibited “promoting consumption, sale and cultivation” in these spaces. Since then, the PSC has had them in its sights and, now that it has reached the government, it is finally seeking their dissolution.
