19 agosto 2014

di Laura Secourun Palet

La maggior parte delle persone hanno familiarità con caffè caffè di Amsterdam, dove pot è consentito fumare in luoghi designati, ma un nuovo movimento è in aumento in tutto diverse città europee chiamato Cannabis Social Club.

Non tutte le città europee hanno le stesse leggi per l’uso di marijuana, secondo un rapporto oggi da UALR Public Radio. Ma dove CSC sono semi-legali, stanno allungando i confini legali operando come non-profit.
L’espansione di questi club stanno esplodendo in Spagna e hanno autorità locali straordinari di lavoro per frenare la loro crescita e la sicurezza per i consumatori e residenti. Recentemente questi nuovi gruppi si sono scontrati con le autorità locali che vedono tali attività come il traffico di droga.

Solo pochi mesi fa, El Pais ha riferito che nel mese di giugno un giudice, nella regione della Catalogna, ha ordinato uno di questi club chiuso perché “si è impegnata nel traffico di droga.” Alcuni club sono stati trovati promozione per le strade distribuendo volantini sperando di acquisire nuovi soci, una tattica che è illegale. Mentre alcuni club stanno ignorando i regolamenti, sembra che la Spagna è in prima linea come un importante hub per questi club sociali cannabis, e indagini governative concluso esistono più di 700 club in tutta la Spagna.

Anche se la Spagna permette piccole quantità di cannabis per uso legale, aree di traffico, coltivazione, e la promozione del consumo non sono ammessi. I club offrono più di un semplice luogo privato per rilassarsi e fumo erbaccia, alcuni club offrono ottimo cibo e bevande. Gabriela, una segretaria, ha detto NPR, “E ‘così comodo, si paga una piccola tassa annuale e poi appena arrivato, scegliere ciò che si desidera e sedersi intorno a guardare la TV, giocare ai videogiochi … alcuni club di fantasia anche servire bevande e cibi caldi. ”

Non tutte le città europee regolano marijuana utilizzano lo stesso, ma Joep Oomen, fondatore di un CSC in Belgio ritiene una ragione più grande più Cannabis Social Club sono in aumento perché, “Cannabis Social Club sono la migliore alternativa a un monopolio di governo rigoroso o l’ legalizzazione su vasta scala, che tende a incentivare il consumo e beneficiare solo le grandi aziende. ”

Per ora più gruppi in Spagna stanno lavorando insieme per riconoscere che i club cannabis sociale hanno bisogno di regolamentazione al fine di fornire pratiche sicure, e sperano di ulteriori regolamenti anche permettere loro di evitare pratiche illegali. La Federazione di Cannabis Associazione ha una campagna per la regolamentazione dei Cannabis Social Club. Alcuni dei regolamenti aperti di discussione con le autorità comprendono: ore di funzionamento, il numero massimo di carte di titolari, distanze da scuole, e di altre questioni di sicurezza ambientale.

Club Cannabis is a sexy model in a legal gray area. The social clubs operate openly in countries where personal consumption of small amounts of weed is not prosecuted, and growing that small amount might not technically break the law, either. Pair quasi-legal personal consumption with the right of association, and you have a pretty sneaky way around marijuana prohibition. As long as the total amount grown and distributed matches the sum of individual legal limits — presto! — it’s not illegal trafficking, say members.

Places like these are popping up all over the city and in many other European capitals like London, Paris and Ljubljana, Slovenia, part of a sneaky end run around Europe’s widespread prohibition of pot. These “cannabis social clubs” are seemingly innocent nonprofit associations that only serve members, at least in principle. Call it a grass-roots movement, emphasis on the grass.

“It’s so convenient,” says Gabriela, a 25-year-old secretary. “You pay a small yearly fee and then just come, pick what you want and sit around watching TV, playing video games … some fancy clubs even serve drinks and hot food.”

The authorities sometimes disagree. In June, a Catalonian club was closed for drugs trafficking, and some in the movement are pushing for more regulation so as to distinguish good clubs from bad ones.

The spread of European clubs tracks the awkward step toward legalisation in the United States. In both places, the shift began with medical marijuana. In the United States, many states have sanctioned uses of the drug that are banned under federal law — an absurd situation, according to most observers.

European law begs logic, too. In many European countries, private consumption is decriminalized, but growing and selling weed remains illegal. In spite of their different processes, Europe is heading to the same place as the United States. Users are puff, puff, puffing their way toward easier access and legalization.

The social clubs are for some a sly way to smoke up with friends, but proponents have embraced them as a cause, saying they’re a model for grass-roots regulation. “Cannabis social clubs are the best alternative to a strict government monopoly or the large-scale legalization, which tends to incentivize consumption and benefit only big companies,” says Joep Oomen, founder of Belgium’s first CSC, Trekt Uw Plant, and secretary of the European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies.

It’s a crazy patchwork quilt of regulation across Europe. But somehow, marijuana usage seems to be spreading almost everywhere.

In Belgium, having less than 3 grams of weed or one female plant is OK. So the five cannabis clubs in the country can’t offer more than that per person and can’t have shared smoking spaces either. Members go to an office to pick it up and then head home to smoke.

Purchasing drugs for personal use isn’t criminal in Slovenia, though users could face fines. Still, the country has six clubs and will have 10 soon, according to Jaka Bitenc, founder of the country’s first cannabis association, SkSk.

The ultimate stoner paradise is Spain, where the law allows growing and consuming marijuana for private use without specifying a quantity. Pot clubs are thriving. The number of clubs in Spain has grown from 40 in 2010 to more than 700 today, with over 165,000 members.

“People come because they want to know the quality of what they consume and they want to support a more transparent model than the black market,” says Martin Barriuso, from Club Pannagh.

Of course, some clubs skirt the rules. In violation of founding principles and codes of conduct, many associations allow members to register online. In downtown Barcelona, it’s easy to spot people giving out fliers or bringing in tourists for a quick puff. Some call Barcelona the “Holland of the South.”

In Catalonia alone, pot associations sell an estimated ($6.7 million), so it’s no surprise that a club has already been shut for drugs trafficking and four people have been accused of money-laundering.

Regional authorities have responded by drafting strict new measures to regulate the sector, such as forbidding the use of cash or advertisements. Spain’s Ministry of Health is set to come up with new regulations by 2015.

Most associations welcome the news. “Regulation was a necessity because we have been operating with a lot of legal insecurity and things were getting out of hand,” says Jaume Xaus, the spokesman for the Catalonian Federation of Cannabis Associations.

Others would rather ban the clubs outright. “Legislating is giving up,” says Per Johansson, secretary of the board of the World Federation Against Drugs. He says arguments in favor of cannabis social clubs are “naive at best,” because regulation will not put an end to the black market.

Still, Johansson seems like a voice in the wilderness as associations gain momentum even in countries where the laws are strict.

In France, any consumption or distribution is illegal, and yet there are some400 underground clubs. The U.K. is also gearing up with 74 organisations like the London Cannabis Club , which organizes meetings for weed aficionados to discuss growing methods and lobbying strategies and have the occasional smoke-out.

Austria’s Hemp Institute just launched a parliamentary initiative to legalize cannabis, and major Swiss cities like Geneva, Basel and Bern are backing an initiative to regularize the use of marijuana through users’ associations. There’s even talk of a first cannabis cafe opening in Berlin.

Of course, the social club model could go up in smoke if governments legislate against it. More likely: This bottom-up approach could get European countries rivaling Colorado as a smoker’s heaven.

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