A few months ago, the leaders of a cannabis association in Vizcaya were acquitted by the Provincial Court, but the High Court convicted them in July and yesterday revealed its arguments: cannabis clubs are criminal when they bring together hundreds of people to smoke marijuana and are open to new members.<\/p>\n
\u00ab"The cultivation and distribution of cannabis in an organized, institutionalized manner and with the intention of persisting over time among a group of 290 people belonging to an association" constitutes a crime of drug trafficking or against public health, typified in article 368 of the Penal Code.<\/p>\n
If the shared cultivation of marijuana is carried out among hundreds of people in an association open to new members, it may constitute a crime. The Penal Code condemns drug trafficking and the promotion of drug use.<\/p>\n
However, it also points out that associations may not be criminal even if they are not legal: "The shared cultivation of cannabis intended for the exclusive consumption of those who promote that production on a small scale, even though it is not a legal activity, may lack criminal relevance under certain conditions.".<\/p>\n
The leaders of the Ebers Hemp Studies and Users Association, from Bilbao, have been sentenced to prison terms of between 3 and 8 months.<\/p>\n
The ruling includes dissenting votes from three judges, who believe that the court should specify more precisely when these clubs are legal and when they are not, and describe the solution provided as "insufficient and unsafe".<\/p>\n
In some regions of Spain, the regional parliaments have tried to legislate to clarify this legal framework, as in Catalonia or Navarre.<\/p>\n