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Spain Opens Door to Medical Cannabis: Public Input Now Welcome by Johnny Green

Spain’s Ministry of Health has started the process of developing a Royal Decree through which it plans to approve the regulation of cannabis for medicinal use. Before a Royal Decree is officially issued, the public will be allowed to provide input, with Spain’s government having set up an email address dedicated to receiving such input (normativa.aemps@aemps.es).

The government in Spain is seeking to finalize a “rigorous measure” that is “based on the best scientific evidence available.” Such a measure will reportedly include periodic evaluations to examine the effectiveness of Spain’s eventual medical cannabis regulations.

“The Ministry addresses this regulation based on the conclusions of the Subcommittee of the Congress of Deputies for the analysis of experiences with the regulation of cannabis for medicinal use, which called on the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products to prepare a roadmap to approve the regulation.” Spain’s government stated in a press release (translated from Spanish to English).

Spain’s Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, recently met with the European Observatory of Cannabis Consumption and Cultivation, as well as with industry associations and members of the scientific community. Secretary Padilla is also expected to meet soon with the Spanish Observatory of Medicinal Cannabis.

A recent meeting at Spain’s Ministry of Health was attended by representatives of the General Council of Medical Colleges and the General Council of Official Colleges of Pharmacists in addition to the Spanish Society of Palliative Care, the Spanish Society of Pain, the Spanish Society of Epilepsy, the Spanish Society of Studies on Alcohol, and the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy.

Further, it was attended by the Spanish Society of Primary Care Pharmacists, the Spanish Society of Hematology and Hemotherapy, the Spanish Society of Primary Care Physicians, the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine, the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians, the Spanish Multidisciplinary Pain Society, the Spanish Society of Neurology, Society Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery, Spanish Society of Medical Oncology, Spanish Society of Dual Pathology, SED-ESOM Working Group, Spanish Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health, and the Spanish Society of Rheumatology.

“The proposed regulation guarantees the quality of the products and the safety of patients, enabling the legal avenues available to have therapeutic compounds based on standardized cannabis preparations that have shown evidence in relieving pain and the suffering of patients, considering the oral administration of these compounds as it is the most appropriate in terms of therapeutic effectiveness and safety for patients,” the government’s press release stated.

“This regulation is designed to evolve dynamically, allowing new elements to be incorporated as more information and the experience of the therapeutic cannabis program becomes available. In addition, it will contribute to generating more and better evidence on the use of cannabinoids for therapeutic purposes,” Spain’s government also stated.

What is currently being proposed by Spain’s government is a national medical cannabis program that is being described as being similar to what is currently in place in European nations like Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Norway. Those nations’ medical cannabis regulations are much more limited compared to what is in place in Germany, and much more restrictive compared to what is found in many parts of North America.

Spain’s government resumed its push to pass medical cannabis regulations starting last month after previous efforts experienced numerous setbacks in recent years.

An eventual medical cannabis regulation measure in Spain is not expected to include cannabis clubs, which operate in many parts of Spain and are very popular among suffering patients. Cannabis clubs operate in a grey area of Spain’s law and serve as the primary source of medical cannabis for many Spanish patients.

Barcelona’s government is actively trying to shut down the hundreds of cannabis clubs that operate within the Barcelona area. Spain’s cannabis industry is estimated to be worth 238.5 million euros in 2024 according to an analysis by Euromonitor International. 

Euromonitor estimates that Spain’s medical cannabis market alone is worth an estimated 27.3 million euros as of this year. Those figures are estimated to rise in 2025 to 358.4 million euros and 107.6 million euros, respectively.

The announcement of the launch for public input regarding medical cannabis regulations in Spain comes less than a month before the world’s largest cannabis gathering takes place in Barcelona. The International Cannabis Business Conference (March 14th) is once again teaming up with Spannabis (March 15-17) to put on the world’s largest cannabis superconference.

This article first appeared on Internationalcbc.com and is syndicated here with special permission.

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