Canary Islands Parliament votes in favor of medical cannabis

Last week, the plenary of the Parliament of the Canary Islands unanimously approved a bill to authorize the medical use of cannabis and cannabinoids.

The initiative calls on the Parliament of the Canary Islands to do what it can to push the Spanish government to make the necessary legal changes to allow access to therapeutic treatments based on cannabis and its derivatives, under strict medical indication and supervision, for pathologies in which it has proven effective or where the doctor deems it appropriate. The Spanish government recently confirmed that it would continue to deny access to medical cannabis to its citizens, even though the country already produces and exports cannabis to foreign markets.

The Canary proposal also includes a request to set up a system for assessing the impact on public health, particularly on the quality of life of patients treated with these therapies.

On the Canaries, the Cannabis Social Clubs already take care of patients and provide answers to needs «which are not their own, but which the public authorities have failed to meet», explained Iñaki Lavandera, the Member of Parliament behind the proposal.

He also stated that the Spanish population overwhelmingly supported the initiative, with 84% of the population in favor of medical cannabis. In addition to the fact that many neighboring countries have already taken the plunge, he said insisted on the fact that regulating medical cannabis also served to promote research, «which requires expectations of economic return on investment; regulating means promoting economic activity, job creation and tax collection in Spain and especially for the Canary Islands because of their particular climatic conditions can benefit enormously».