a brief history of cannabis policies in spain - Journal of Drug Issues

GAMELLA, JIMÉNEZ RODRIGO
cannabis. There has been a clear increase in the major aspects of commercialization:
access, prices, promotion, and advertising. The promotion of cannabis is not
comparable to the promotional activities of the alcohol and tobacco industries,
although it is expanding through the actions of interested parties, but also by the
free publicity provided by the mass media and the entertainment industry. Both
feature cannabis prominently, usually in a favorable light.
Thus cannabis has become increasingly attractive and acceptable. A large sector
of mainstream youngsters confirm in their daily experience most of the beneficial
attributes attached to the drug, downplaying its harms and risks, especially those
associated with long-term, intensive consumption. Many people have developed a
strong attachment to the cannabis plant itself, which has become a powerful symbol.
Thus, cannabis has been integrated in the daily, “normal” life of an important sector
of Spanish youth, a process also documented by other European countries (see
Parker, Williams, & Aldrige, 2002).
There is a complex series of feedbacks in which cannabis has become
symbolically separated from “hard” drugs, especially heroin, and has moved closer
to tobacco and alcohol. But its illegal status has provided the drug and its users
with some of its allure as a badge of rebellion, alternative values and lifestyles, and
anti-system resistance. In Spain, the apparent hypocrisy of a state “addicted” to
taxes from cheap tobacco and alcohol that punishes cannabis users fuels the interest
in a drug that is easily portrayed as more natural, benign, and healthier. Even if
some of the claims of the “pro-cannabis” movement are preposterous, and some
cannabis journals and shops are successful businesses, the good name of marijuana
is not based on misinformation or deceitful propaganda.
Thus the changes in the social representation of cannabis and the increase in its
consumption are mutually related and also affect its commercialization. It would
be wrong to attribute too much agency to any particular group, however, be it the
pro-cannabis associations, or the related journals and supporters. They thrived in
the adversarial climate of the 1990s because they were largely in tune with the
wishes and personal views and experiences of thousands of users. Hence, a
government backlash against the “pro-cannabis” sector, including the fining or
closure of shops, journals, or associations, may be counterproductive. The sense
of outrage that is felt by many cannabis consumers has resulted in a more militant
movement that favors cultivation and legalization. In turn, this moved some local
and regional governments and nationalist parties, mostly in Catalonia and the Basque
Country, to use the cannabis issue as a contested theme with the Aznar conservative
government.
In sum, several inconsistencies have developed in the legal and political treatment
of cannabis in Spain in the last decades. On one side, jurisprudence has established
650 JOURNAL OF DRUG ISSUES
Downloaded from jod.sagepub.com by guest on March 15, 2015