Spanish Congress rejects cannabis legalization

The Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Spanish government, has rejected a proposal to legalize cannabis for therapeutic and recreational use. The initiative was presented by the Republican Left of Catalonia and supported by Unidas Podemos, PNV and Cs, among other parliamentary forces.

This is the second time the Lower House has rejected this law during the current legislature. The previous vote, proposed by Más País, another left-wing party, was rejected by the same groups.

Full legalization of cannabis

The aim of the law, as defended by Republican deputy Marta Rosique, was to legalize cannabis and regulate its use, because «denying or prohibiting it will not make consumption disappear».

For Rosique, it's a matter of public health to consider cannabis as a medicine, thus facilitating its access to citizens who need this substance as a medical therapy through a doctor's prescription.

«In the current situation, people are resorting to illegal means of treatment,» she argues. The law will also regulate recreational use, as well as cultivation, harvesting and sale. transport, possession, consumption, dispensation and marketing.

According to the ERC MP, it is necessary to «decriminalize cannabis, as various European countries have done», in order to «focus on the prevention and treatment of addictions».

Access to this substance would be through individual self-cultivation or community cultivation via non-profit associations. It is estimated that more than 200,000 people could benefit of legalization for medical purposes in Spain, according to the Spanish Medical Cannabis Observatory.

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), through the voice of Alfredo Sancho, was reluctant to mix therapeutic and recreational regulations.

«We've always maintained that these are two different debates, one helping the quality of life of thousands of patients suffering from pain and the other not,» stressed the Socialist MP.

For the Popular Party (PP), Eduardo Carazo insisted on the «no» to consumption that «has a negative impact on health».

A position shared by Vox, which, through Juan Luis Steegmann, highlighted the «mental and physical damage» associated with cannabis consumption.

Meanwhile, the parties that supported the bill argue that prohibition is ineffective and that other similar initiatives in autonomous communities such as Navarre and Catalonia have received majority support in their regional assemblies.

Other initiatives

This is the third bill in Congress in the last two years to regulate cannabis, although the one presented by Unidas Podemos has not yet been debated in Parliament.

A few weeks ago, Ciudadanos registered a non-legislative proposal to call for regulatory changes to establish a «guarantee regulation» that facilitates access to medical cannabis and accurate information about its therapeutic properties by doctors, companies, patients and institutions.

In addition, last year the Health Committee of the Congress of Deputies gave the green light to the sub-committee's opinion. who studied the legalization of cannabis for medical use. The text was approved with the support of the PSOE, Unidas Podemos, Ciudadanos, PNV and PDeCAT, despite votes against from the Grupo Popular and VOX.

Despite this approval, no concrete progress has been made.