Is Cannabis Reform Moving In The Canary Islands?
Could this Spanish outpost just 100 miles off the coast of Africa drive the needle for reform in the rest of Spain if not Europe beyond that?
A local blog has reported the news that the Canary Island Parliament has just voted “in favour” of the legalization and regulation of cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes with a unanimous vote among all parliamentary groups.
This is a major step for the islands, although how much autonomy the Spanish government based in Madrid will give them or local entrepreneurs to develop the industry is still up in the air. Previously the Socialist group Lavandera had passed a “Non Law” Proposition (or NLP which is not legally binding) to change the current regulation to protect medical patients.
What could this mean, however, not only for the Canaries, but for the wider debate in Spain (which is also currently headed to the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg over the entire Cannabis Club discussion)? The jury, literally, is still out.
What Is Like Life On The Canaries Right Now?
I visited Tenerife for several weeks in September this year on assignment as a consultant, having also been offered the opportunity to be a potential partner in a medical cannabis project on Tenerife.
In general, I was blown away just by the geography if not surroundings.
The island if not the Archipelago is a magical, wild, pirate kind of place with perfect weather and stunning scenery. Its people are generally friendly, if not increasingly desperate about their future in the world (at least with the current economy).
With a long history of nautical derring do if not international trade (and in many kinds of commodities over the several hundred years the islands have been in the way of commercial shipping routes), Tenerife and its sister Canaries right now are suffering. Big time.
Tourism is way down. Unemployment is way up. Even once daily flights from Frankfurt now scheduled by the German tour operator TUI are not likely to reinvigorate an economy at least one winter and probably three quarters away from a return to anything like “normal.”
Those with assets are trying to figure out how to preserve them in an environment where everything is foreclosing if not actually shut down. Those who depend on wage income are in a harder and harder place. There is already a great deal of poverty here, with people inhabiting, literally, caves in the volcanic mountainsides (even in the capitol of Santa Cruz de Tenerife).
Establishing a viable if not sustainable cannabis industry here would make sense for a lot of economic development reasons.
But can it happen here in a way that is vaguely equitable, without exploiting the local labour or destroying the island environmentally?
What Is The Cannabis Scene In Tenerife Like Today?
If you read the tourist reviews, you will get at least a cursory understanding of the cannatemperature here. There are many clubs across the island, in varying stages of legality. The clubs in the south mainly serve the tourist trade even if on the down low (so doubly stressed right now). The clubs in the North tend to serve the locals.
Just like in Barcelona and other places in Spain however, the entire industry exists in a variously grey shade of legality that can be shut down at a moment’s notice by the police and for various reasons.
Those who farm cannabis are doing so in various different ways — and that includes a couple of more corporate and European funded projects in various stages of approval and completion right now. That is not to say that anyone has figured out a way to actually get a certified and profitable project off the ground yet although there are clearly efforts cooking.
So far, the bigger issues hampering the growth of the industry is that per Spanish law, any officially legit projects had to certify that their cannabis was only for export. And further in an environment where the Spanish medicines and medical devices agency (AEMPS) is being decidedly cagey about who it will issue new licenses to on the GMP side of the discussion, not to mention who gets to use the ones currently issued via pass-through agreements.
This new move by the local government obviously challenges that.
That it comes when one of the leaders of the Spanish Club movement is headed to a European legal clash on the entire conversation is surely not coincidental.
Further that it is occurring when Spanish provinces are increasingly at odds with each other (and on many issues including issues like Covid response) is even more intriguing.
Stay tuned.
