Today, the Comisión de Sanidad y Consumo (Spanish Congressional Health and Consumer Affairs Commission) voted to establish a subcommittee with the express purpose of exploring the potential of medical cannabis legalization by examining policies in other countries and producing a report for the consideration of the government.
Medical cannabis is becoming increasingly liberalized across Europe, especially in high-income western countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Switzerland. More recently, access has been opening up in France and the UK, with a trial access scheme underway in France and an increasing number of patients obtaining cannabis medication in the UK, as registered by ProjectTwenty21 and the new NHS registry of cannabis patients.
While Spain was among the first countries in Europe to decriminalize the personal use of cannabis, regulations on medical cannabis are trailing behind much of western and central Europe. Outdated laws around access to medical cannabis are still preventing patients from obtaining legal medical products other than a limited set of pharmaceutical cannabinoid products such as Sativex and Epydiolex. This is despite the fact that over 90% of the public support the legalization of medical cannabis in Spain according to a recent survey by the Center for Sociological Research.
A ground-breaking vote
On May 13th, the committee of the Spanish Congress voted in favour of a proposal filed by the Grupo Parlamentario Vasco (Basque Parliamentary Group), with the support of several groups, including the Observatario España de Cannabis Medicinal (Spanish Medicinal Cannabis Observer). The proposal, which was voted in by a majority of 20 votes in favor versus 14 against, establishes a subcommittee that will investigate the effects of regulated medical cannabis systems in other countries. The stated aims include ‘Giving a voice and listening to experiences of others and to everything that can enrich our own reflection: the legal bases, scientific evidence and technical difficulties for its implementation (of medical cannabis access)’.
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