Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

HEALTH

Spain’s Health Ministry reignites medical cannabis law

After draft legislation was put aside last year, the Spanish government is now reviewing proposals to regulate medical cannabis, something supported by the vast majority of Spaniards.

Published: 4 January 2024 09:21 CET
Spain's Health Ministry reignites medical cannabis law
The vast majority of Spaniards support regulation for medicinal use. Photo: JENS SCHLUETER/AFP.

Spain’s Ministry of Health is set to resume looking at the regulation of medical cannabis.

Sources from the Ministry, headed by Sumar’s Mónica García, have confirmed to various outlets in the Spanish press that they intend to press on with draft legislation and relaunch the creation of a medical programme from mid-January.

The government had previously looked into the issue and the Spanish Parliament even approved a draft document that urged for cannabis regulation for medicinal purposes, but with the rush of elections at the end of the last legislature the issue was ultimately side-lined.

READ ALSO: What’s the law on cannabis in Spain?

Now the Health Ministry wants to reignite the process and is reviewing the existing draft legislation, which was drawn up on the basis of findings by a Congressional committee and was something backed by all parties besides right-wing Partido Popular (PP) and Vox, who voted against.

There is no clear deadline for when legislation will formally be presented to the Congress of Deputies, or when medical cannabis could become legal in Spain if approved.

However the fact that García, a far-left politician, has been given the health brief means that the Ministry will likely have more thrust to legalise than previous PSOE Health Ministers, who have historically been sceptical of the issue.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about cannabis clubs in Spain

Spain is one of the few major European countries that does not have a regulated medical cannabis programme, despite the fact that it has broad public support (84 percent of Spaniards polled were in favour, according to CIS data) and a majority of lawmakers in Parliament have already endorsed a medical programme of some sort.

Equally, with the current distribution of seats in the House of Deputies, a vote in favour of medical marijuana legalisation seems plausible.

However, the Spanish Medical Cannabis Observatory (OECM), the group that has pushed hardest for medicinal regulation in Spain, has warned against rushing through the legislation, arguing instead that being too ambitious could be detrimental to potential patients who need cannabis for pain relief.

Carola Pérez, OECM president, said in the Spanish press: “we have already had many unfulfilled promises since 2016.” 

There is no talk of legalising recreational cannabis for now. Recreational use in Spain still exists in a rather confusing grey area, with personal possession (of which the exact amount is not legally defined) not considered illegal but not legal either, with public possession subject to fines.

Recreational consumption is not illegal on private property, nor is growing a small number of plants for personal consumption. In Spain, cannabis ‘associations’ exploit these legal loopholes to have Amsterdam-style coffee shops, though they too are occasionally subject to seizure by the police. 

READ ALSO: What you need to know about cannabis clubs in Spain

In Spain, 14.9 percent of the adult population polled in 2021 declared themselves habitual consumers (defined by having consumed in the last month), after reaching peaks of 20.1 percent in 2008, according to the National Plan on Drugs. Cannabis is the most consumed non-legal drug in Spain, but falls far behind legal drugs such as tobacco (23.9 percent) and alcohol (53.6 percent).

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

PROPERTY

BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Though many people hang laundry, plants, and flags from their balcony, in Spain the rules on what you can and can't do on 'el balcón' are not well-known.

Published: 8 May 2024 17:13 CEST
Updated: 11 May 2024 08:31 CEST
BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Imagine the scene: you’ve just bought or signed the lease on your dream apartment. It’s bright and airy, with plenty of space, and even has a nice-sized balcony to get some fresh air on. You can do whatever you want there, right? 

Not exactly. In Spain the rules on what you can and can’t do on a balcony (even if it’s private) depend on a few factors, namely the regional and local rules, as well as getting the approval of the building’s homeowner’s association – known in Spain as la comunidad.

Some of them might just surprise you.

READ ALSO: ‘La comunidad’: What property owners in Spain need to know about homeowners’ associations

There are four main things or activities on balconies that could potentially put you on the wrong side of the local rules and even get you fined: barbecues, plants, laundry, and flags.

In all cases (even if you don’t think you’re breaking any rules) you’ll generally need to consider two things: firstly, does this affect or change the building’s façade? And secondly: will la comunidad allow it?

Barbecues

In Spain there is no national law prohibiting barbecues on private property, so in principle it is legal as long as the barbecue is lit in a private space such as your own balcony, garden or terrace, and not a shared space.

Often in Spain, the roof (usually referred to as la terrazza) is a shared space people use for storage and hanging their laundry, so be sure to check with the comunidad.

In terms of your own balcony, however, although there’s no law saying outright you can’t have a barbecue, you’ll need to take into account the rules and regulations in force in each locality or region. There may also be specific rules within the building that long-term homeowners have developed over the years.

As we will see, many of these low-level regulations are delegated to local governments and town halls in Spain, so the answer to these sorts of questions is usually: it depends where you are.

However, according to Article 7 of Spain’s Horizontal Property Law, “the owner and the occupant of the flat or premises are not allowed to carry out in it or in the rest of the property activities prohibited in bylaws, which are harmful to the property or which contravene the general provisions on annoying, unhealthy, harmful, dangerous or illegal activities.”

This basically gives your neighbours the right to complain about noise, smells, smoke and any possible fire risk in or around their building, which barbecues could plausibly fall under.

As with co-living anywhere in the world, regardless of the regional or local rules, employ some common sense: be reasonable, listen to neighbour’s concerns and take up any disputes with the President of la comunidad.

READ ALSO: What you need to know before having a barbecue in Spain

Plants

Again, with plants the responsibility falls on each local authority to set the rules. In Spain, most regions and town halls state that, as long as the architectural or structural elements of the building are not changed or weakened in any way, putting plants on your balcony is permitted.

However, note that many terraces and balconies do have maximum weight regulations that must be respected in order to guarantee their safety, which is 200kg per square metre. If this figure is exceeded (and it can be proved) you could theoretically be fined.

Laundry

Laundry lines criss-crossing the streets might be one of the more picturesque images of Spanish life, but the people doing it might actually be breaking the rules.

How do you know? You guessed it, it depends where you. You’ll need to check with your local authority on this one, though municipal regulations in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia all regulate hanging laundry from your balcony, which is again outlined in the Horizontal Property Law.

This principally seems to be because it affects the façade of the building (a common theme when it comes to balcony rules in Spain).

In places with rules about hanging laundry from balconies, you could be fined up to 750 euros if you don’t comply with the rules.

However, according to Foto Casa, even if you live in an area where there are no bans or penalties against hanging laundry on the balcony, you’ll still likely need the permission of la comunidad.

READ MORE: Spain’s weirdest laws that foreigners should know about

What about flags?

Whether it be the Spanish flag, the Catalan, Valencian or Andalusian flags, or LGBT, trade union or football team flags, flags proudly hanging from balconies is another mainstay of Spanish life.

It’s also one of the more controversial ones too, especially within comunidad meetings. Hanging flags on the balcony, as well as allegedly altering the aesthetics and security of the building (the same concern as with laundry) often has ideological connotations that can cause conflict.

Again, as with laundry, hanging flags on the balcony will require the approval of all the owners within the community, something that must be agreed at a meeting, as per the Horizontal Property Law.

However, if the flag is placed inside the property, as it is a private property, fellow homeowners cannot oppose it, even if it is visible from the street, according to Foto Casa.

Nudity 

Article of 185 of Spain’s Penal Code only considers being naked at home to be obscene exhibitionism and sexual provocation if it affects minors, in which case it is punishable with a fine or up to a year in prison.

Therefore, you could technically sunbathe shirtless or naked on your balcony in most cases without getting into trouble, although it won’t necessarily go down well with your neighbours and/or flatmates and you be reprimanded for it.

READ ALSO: Can you go shirtless or wear a bikini in the street in Spain?

SHOW COMMENTS