Cannabis reaches Basque parliament

On 19 June, 2012, the Ganjazz Art Club in Donostia, one of the oldest Cannabis Social Clubs in Spain, received a visit that was unimaginable a few years earlier: a group of members of the autonomous regional Basque parliament on official business. Its goal was to find out how one of these cannabis users’ associations, that have proliferated over the past few years, operates.

The group was made up of members of a parliamentary commission who, since 24 April 2012, have been studying a possible regulation of cannabis clubs’ activities. It included representatives from the parliament’s four main parties (PNV, PSE, PP and Aralar). As well as visiting the social headquarters of Ganjazz and finding out how the distribution of cannabis derivatives is carried out amongst members, the delegation also went on a tour of the facilities where the marijuana is grown.

Jokes were made and the members of parliament ended up having their photos taken in front of some cannabis plants. This all took place in a very relaxed atmosphere, reflecting the surprising unanimity with which the regulation proposal was approved in the regional parliament. On the few occasions that the cannabis debate reaches the political agenda, the substance and its possible legalization tend to be the object of heated and unspecific polemics, something which has not happened in this instance.

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