In 5 years, Cannabis Social Clubs have conquered the UK

Since 2009, the UK has been easing up on cannabis. The UK Medicines Agency recently recognized the medical use of CBD products, But recreational smoking is still illegal in the UK. Like most of Europe, England is seeing the emergence of Cannabis Social Clubs. For the moment, they're still rather disorganized, but efforts are paying off.

A central office for Cannabis Clubs

In November, 150 English cannabis activists gathered for the first assembly of English Cannabis Social Clubs. The aim of the meeting was to federate England's independent CSCs into a single voice that could be heard by politicians and the general public.

The meeting was organized by the United Kingdom Cannabis Social club through its manager Greg de Hoedt. This Crohn's patient is a volunteer in the national CSC organization: «Many patients find it difficult to find medicinal cannabis without paying a fortune, so it's only natural that they should grow it themselves. We designate citizen cooperatives that can grow a maximum of 9 plants, and redistribute them across the country. Now we need to establish the rules for contributions and supervision of associates and patients at national level».

Niamh Eastwood , the meeting's executive director, is calling for a nationwide reorganization of sentences. Depending on the city, violators of the law can be fined severely or only given a warning for the same amount.

Melissa Bone, a human rights specialist, is astonished by the progress made: «Five years ago, none of this existed. Now most Cannabis Clubs are fighting to increase their collective production. Of course, they provoke and disobey, but behind the demonstrations, there's also an approach to information and redistribution.»

How CSCs work

There are around 80 «official» Cannabis Clubs in the UK. Each club has around 100 members. Unlike CSCs elsewhere in Europe, the structure does not produces no cannabis. The central office designates citizen communities who will redistribute directly to the associations once the harvest is complete. The nine plants authorized per community represent English case law. The community can be represented by a single person. If a crop exceeds nine plants, the courts consider that it is not for personal use. To track the growth and transport of cannabis, English managers have set up a system for tagging the plant. This tracking system prevents plants from disappearing. The central office of the Cannabis Clubs decides on the weight distributed per Club, as well as the distribution of plants according to THC levels. Some patients thus have access to varieties produced exclusively for their medication.

The end customer pays the price per gram based on the cost price + £1 for the association's running costs.

In case of road trip in England, here is the list of Cannabis Clubs on this site link. Our local contacts tell us that it's still pretty ghetto, but that the system works well. On the other hand, some of the clubs' production is still in the hands of mafia networks, which are benefiting even more from prohibition.