As we have mentioned on several occasions growing marijuana for personal use (upto a certain amount that the judge has not yet determined) is legal as long as it’s not in public. This means that you could grow it on your balcony as long as nowone sees the plants!
In the centre of Madrid not far from where the legendary Pacha disco used to be there is an cannabis association for marijuana users. Whilst you are heading towards this club, your thoughts could turn to the typical view of a club where junkies, persecuted by the police, can find refuge. A kind of sordid place rather like the opium dens of Victorian England, with people spaced out on coaches getting their fix. Abandoned by life they use the drug as a way to escape from a permanent hostile reality. However, nothing could be further from the truth, as marijuana and cannabis derived consumers live in the same world as the rest of us and are surviving just like the rest of us.
They are not just trying to get high at any price, in fact addiction to hemp products is much less than addiction to say tobacco or alcohol. As many studies have pointed out.
Marijuana is a psychoactive substance and its sale is considered drug trafficking., whereas self-consumption is not. But what happens if a group of users get together to form an association. Production is not legal (depending on the quantity produced). Nor is consumption in public, the only legal place to partake is in the club (association), i.e. in a private space not open to the public. Facilitating access for consumers isn’t legal or illegal it just happens.
Most coffee shops in the centre of Madrid, have a menu board which explains the varieties available and their price (normally they work with credits), in the same way as a pub would have a menu board for Gin-tonics. There is no low-quality marijuana here, on the jars it is clearly marked when the marijuana was stored and what strain it is. New members of the association (club) can ask as to the effects of each strain, as they explain what they are looking for, and the association can steer them towards the strain that will fit their needs and wants.
Apart from the legality of their situation, everything is far more controlled than in any bar, restaurant, cafeteria or disco. It would be unthinkable (except in some specialised establishments), to ask for the origin of the coffee you are drinking in a normal pub.
The association’s statutes make it very clear that they do not seek the promotion, favouring or facilitation of illegal consumption. What they are trying to do is to ‘enforce their rights as cannabis users in the most correct and legal way possible, under current legislation.’ Additionally, a condition for membership is that you must specify that you share the goals of the association and already be a consumer before joining the association.
Hence, anybody applying to join a club (association) must be sponsored by a current member.
Most of the members are over 21 (some clubs will only accept members who are over 21 years old), and they are all regular users.
