First serious Parliamentary debate over legalising cannabis for medicinal use

THE ongoing debate as to whether to legalise cannabis consumption for medicinal purposes has reached Parliament for the first time after centre-right party Ciudadanos presented a legislative proposal – a legal tool used by MPs to push for specific action from government leaders.

Although a legislative proposal does not oblige the government to take action, it serves as a 'loudspeaker' for hot topics being debated in society, and the fact it has been presented by the moderately conservative Ciudadanos means the issue is more likely to raise discussion in Parliament.

The party says it sought advice from the Spanish Observatory for Medicinal Cannabis, and recalled that several other European Union member States have already set the wheels in motion, including Germany, Italy, Finland and the Czech Republic, as well as 26 States in the USA and countries worldwide such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Israel, Uruguay, Chile and Colombia.

This motion comes just days after a 75-year-old woman was arrested and then released without charges in San Sebastián after 14 marijuana plants were found in her flat.

She explained that she mashed up the shrubs with surgical spirit and used the salve as a muscle-rub for herself and her husband to alleviate their aches and pains.

The woman said she had seen this process on TV and had no idea cannabis was 'illegal'.

“I knew it was a drug, but I thought it was okay for therapeutic uses,” she said.

She also grew other innocuous plants and herbs for medicinal use, including rosemary which, according to a widely-used traditional pain remedy, is mashed with surgical spirit in the same way as the pensioner did with cannabis.

At present, a legal loophole exists concerning marijuana use – police are relatively unconcerned with members of the public who keep a small number of plants for personal consumption, provided the smell does not cause a nuisance and they are not on display from the street, but dealing is a criminal offence and if a very high number of plants are found on private property, an investigation is likely to be launched.

The Spanish Observatory for Medicinal Cannabis showed Ciudadanos scientific and medical evidence that the drug is a 'powerful appetite stimulant' which can be beneficial with certain health conditions.

It is commonly recognised that the substance helps prevent nausea and vomiting, a frequent side-effect of cancer treatment, improves nerve pain and helps reduce spasticity – involuntary jerky, disjointed movements caused by lack of motor coordination – both of which are associated with multiple sclerosis and other degenerative neurological illnesses.

This latter benefit is even said to extend to epilepsy, having been known to combat toniclonic seizures.

Spain's PP-led national government has always been dead against any kind of legalisation or even decriminalisation of drugs, but Ciudadanos stresses that authorising cannabis for therapeutic use does not have mean relaxing rules covering its recreational consumption.

Plus, authorising cannabis for these ends means its content will be stringently monitored and safety-tested, eliminating the risks patients currently face when buying it off the street.