Catalonia: Constitutional Court bans Social Clubs

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) declared unconstitutional, unanimously, the law on cannabis associations. Decree 13/2017 had been approved in the Catalan Parliament in June last year with a comfortable majority, but the TC has now interpreted that this law invades national powers, fundamentally in criminal matters, which are part of the jurisprudence of the State.

In the decision, the various similarities with the norms of Navarra and the Basque Country, approved in 2014 and 2017, and which were also declared unconstitutional, were observed. The TC further clarified that “although cannabis contains active elements or principles susceptible to therapeutic application, it is not, strictly speaking, a drug or medication, but a substance classified as controlled”. In this sense, according to article 149.1.6 of the Constitution, the regulation of these substances must be in the hands of the State, which is responsible in criminal matters for crimes related to controlled substances.

The Confederation of Cannabis Associations has already issued a release on the position adopted by the TC, where it is possible to read that prohibitionist policies “have created an environment where the implementation of efficient public health policies is impossible”. The institution alleges the situation of insecurity for the XNUMX employees in the sector, resulting from the decision that “creates an environment that makes it difficult to know and apply policies aimed at minimizing public health risks and reducing the damage resulting from the consumption of cannabis in Catalonia. ”.
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Featured Photo: DR