A Missed Opportunity In Spain

Yesterday was a potentially big day for cannabis policy reform in Spain, however, a bill that would have set up long-needed medical and adult-use regulations failed to pass in Parliament on Tuesday. For now, the status quo remains.

As we have reported several times in recent months, Spain’s emerging cannabis industry is in desperate need of reform in order to reach its full potential. Reform would, in turn, help consumers and patients across the country.

Unfortunately, that will not happen in the immediate future, although the fight to reform Spain’s cannabis laws is far from over. Still, yesterday’s vote was indeed unfortunate, with blame being warranted towards those that voted in support of prohibition. Per Noticias Sin (translated to English):

A comprehensive legalization of cannabis, both for therapeutic and recreational use , was rejected this Tuesday in the Spanish Parliament.

The socialist party PSOE, which is part of the coalition government in Spain with the left-wing formation United We Can, was one of those who voted against it , along with part of the right-wing opposition.

His partner in the Executive supported the initiative along with other leftist forces or formations such as the liberals of Ciudadanos, in their vote in the Congress or lower house of the Spanish Parliament.

Yesterday’s vote was definitely a missed opportunity, however, cannabis advocates will never give up. Hopefully certain reasonable tweaks can be made to proposed legislation in order to get it to the finish line.

Meanwhile, the unregulated market continues to thrive in Spain. Cannabis laws may not be as bad in Spain as they are in other countries, yet even lukewarm prohibition is still prohibition, and as long as people are being harmed by Spanish prohibition there will always be a need for reform.