A quadriplegic Spaniard asks to grow his own medical cannabis

Juan Manuel Rodríguez Gantes has become the first person in Spain to publicly submit a request to the Spanish Medicines Agency for authorization to grow cannabis for medical use. He has been quadriplegic for 30 years, ever since a fatal accident at the age of 19 left him confined to a wheelchair.

Since then, he «has been in pain all the time, 24 hours a day. Except when I smoke cannabis.» Cannabis helps with his «stress» and relaxes him, as he said in an interview with El Mundo.

Juan Manuel has made his request to the Spanish Medicines Agency public. In it, he asks for permission to grow cannabis himself for medical purposes. «If I get it, it would be a relief for me, but also open the door for other patients who find cannabis to be a remedy for pain.»

Juanma has been living in a care facility for people with physical disabilities for many years. He is now making this appeal because of various problems he has had with the police for possessing cannabis and being accused of drug trafficking, although he clarifies that he uses «marijuana for pain, and only for myself.»

«So the police came to my place, »searched my room, and took 80 joints that I’d had for several months—joints that a kid had rolled for me, because, obviously, I can’t do that myself. I’m not a dealer; I’m a medical user.'"

Spain and Cannabis

While Spain is known for its cannabis social clubs, recreational cannabis is still illegal, as is medical cannabisl.

There is, however, an exception for therapeutic purposes: «Spain is governed by a 1967 law—which predates the constitution—that stipulates that all consumption is illegal unless authorized by the Spanish Medicines Agency. »People don’t realize this, but the law considers even home use to be illegal, which implies a moral judgment. And a state governed by the rule of law cannot prosecute morality,” according to criminal law and public health specialist Hector Brotons.

Spain has, however, granted licenses to 10 companies to grow cannabis «for research purposes» and to eight companies for «the production and manufacture of their products for medical and scientific purposes.» But no individual has officially been given the green light to grow cannabis.

Hector Brotons hopes «that the Agency will grant permission because the Constitution and human rights are on our side. In addition to all the countries that have already done so, the UN acknowledged last December the therapeutic properties of cannabis. This is a matter of the right to health and the right to personal freedom. The fact that someone who has found relief from pain and depression through cannabis is persecuted by the law is absurd.».