Cannabis: legal or not?

Information and questions about the Law in Spain and Andalucia.
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gerryh
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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby gerryh » Sat Jun 27, 2015 10:37 am

My understanding that it is legal, in Spain, for personal use as long as you are discrete.
There are a number of "Grow" shops that sell cannabis seeds and small plants??
However they don't sell cannabis ready for use.
I am not a drug user in any form, except for alcohol, before someone accuses me of being a junkie.

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby Devils Advocate » Sat Jun 27, 2015 11:08 am

Same as you Gerry, never even had the slightest try of any drug in my life fortunately.

However I reckon the OP had balls to post and ask this question knowing full well the holier than thou brigade will voice their opinions.

As stated above by a poster I've seen more wretched expat alcoholics over there than I thought possible, in fact swatting them away from spoiling your visit to a bar becomes tedious.

Sorry I can't add anything of substance to the OPs request as I've no idea about drug laws anywhere, however I seem to recall a few posters being critical of new members receiving a hard time when they join this forum, maybe give this guy a break too eh?
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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby Sampson » Sat Jun 27, 2015 11:38 am

Chrissyboy, thank you. Your post was a breath of fresh air to me and one of the few that answered the question posed.

I don't use cannabis these days myself, but I did in my youth and I have no doubt it was far less harmful than alcohol. I cannot ever recall being adversely affected by anyone who was smoking cannabis - the same cannot be said for being on the receiving end from those who drink alcohol! The streets of any large town in UK are littered with these guys late at night.

There seems to be a few sad folk who condemn cannabis use with a knee jerk reaction, clearly not knowing what they're talking about. And just because someone enjoys the occasional joint does not mean they are on a slippery slope towards heroine addiction! Quite absurd.

Not everyone who enjoys a glass of wine can reasonably be described as a "wino" who props up a lamppost whilst swearing incoherently and dribbling. But no doubt a few will remain blinkered.

IMHO the law is an ass as far as cannabis is concerned. It would be far better if it were available in conjunction with education on it's use and the potential dangers, which you won't get from the current suppliers. That is not being at all ambiguous if you make the alcohol comparison.

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby peteroldracer » Sun Jun 28, 2015 10:19 am

chrissyboy wrote:. I have been a user for nearly forty years and still not addicted
chrissyboy
The only way you can prove this to yourself is to stop using for say six months...doing anything for forty years suggests at least a habitual addiction, if not a pathological one.
How many tobacco users claim they "could stop if I wanted"?
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quebin
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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby quebin » Sun Jun 28, 2015 1:00 pm

How many members who claim never to have taken or used a drug in their life drink alcohol and smoke tobacco? Both of these drugs are far more harmful and in fact kill many people every year but of course they are legal for adults to use and abuse.
The World,at least some of it,is beginning to wake up to the fact that cannabis is a very useful medicine that has been used to benefit mankind for thousands of years and many countries are now legalising it for personal use and making it available to purchase in licensed dispensaries.This has the effect of cutting out all the black market supply chain and the associated dangers involved in purchasing it.
There are many ways of enjoying the benefits of cannabis without the use of tobacco which is,in my opinion,the addictive part of smoking it.
Many people,including those who don't use any drugs at all,would rather be in the company of "stoners" than drunks.Smoking cannabis,unlike alcohol,does not lead to aggression.

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby GerryFelch » Sun Jun 28, 2015 1:20 pm

quebin wrote:Smoking cannabis,unlike alcohol,does not lead to aggression.
Really, studies show different!

http://www.mmyvofficial.org/marijuana-and-violence/

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby peteroldracer » Sun Jun 28, 2015 1:22 pm

:clap: :clap: :clap:
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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby chrissyboy » Sun Jun 28, 2015 1:58 pm

peteroldracer wrote:
chrissyboy wrote:. I have been a user for nearly forty years and still not addicted
chrissyboy
The only way you can prove this to yourself is to stop using for say six months...doing anything for forty years suggests at least a habitual addiction, if not a pathological one.
How many tobacco users claim they "could stop if I wanted"?
I return to the UK for four months every year during which time I abstain.
Is that long enough for you?
I gave up tobacco 10 years ago.......now that IS addictive.

chrissyboy

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby johnr » Sun Jun 28, 2015 2:08 pm

GerryFelch wrote:
quebin wrote:Smoking cannabis,unlike alcohol,does not lead to aggression.
Really, studies show different!

http://www.mmyvofficial.org/marijuana-and-violence/
Please tell me you are joking? That's not a serious article. It's a parody web site.

Just the first 'fact' alone is clearly nonsense. 10 million deaths a year in the US attributed to cannabis? Really? Wow. Incredible. That's 7.5 million more than actually die IN TOTAL - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/1 ... 53215.html

Watch the About Us page if you still think it's real - http://www.mmyvofficial.org/about-us/

Have to wonder who here is stoned and who is sober....

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby GerryFelch » Sun Jun 28, 2015 3:06 pm


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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby Mowser » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:03 pm

GerryFetch
LOL. The article's a spoof. This bit made me chortle .."Studies have repeatedly shown that marijuana, unlike alcohol, contributes to the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior."
Dave

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby johnr » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:09 pm

GerryFelch wrote:You doth protest too much.
No, I really don't protest too much at all. The web site you gave a link to was a parody site and full of nonsense. You simple grabbed the first article you found on the web and posted it. You clearly have no personal knowledge of the subject we're discussing.

But you're just going to ignore that aren't you and pretend you never posted it... ok...

Right, the first link above... have you read it?
“Nevertheless, although some previous studies have found an association between cannabis use and violence, cannabis use is not necessarily what causes the violence. The correlation may be due to other factors that affect both cannabis use and violence”, says Rossow.

These factors can, for example, be personality traits, behavioural problems, alcohol use, and influence of friends and acquaintances.
and
The study has its limitations, Rossow says. “Among other things, we do not know whether the incidents of violence reported by the young coincided with the use of cannabis; all we know is that those who increased their use of cannabis, also reported an increase in violence involvement”.
We're talking about a drug that is illegal, that you have to buy (in most countries) from drug dealers. Is it any wonder there is an increase in violence when you are having to deal with those sort of people?

You could do a study that shows people who wear leather jackets are more likely to be a member of an outlaw motorcycle club than people who wear three-piece suits. Clearly it's the leather that is causing their violence...

Also, the story alone isn't very helpful. The only figure given in the story is meaningless by itself.
Using Rossow and Norström’s analytical model, the researchers found that a doubling in the frequency of cannabis use increased the incidence of violent behaviour by 4 percent.
There's no baseline figures to work from.

Show me a study that shows the % increase in violence between young people who drink and go to places where drink is consumed compared with those who don't. I guarantee you it will be more than a 4% increase (ie, how many incidents of violence in a city centre in the UK on a Friday night vs every sports club, chess club or other non-drinking social club in the UK on the same night).

The second link. The Daily Mail... Jeez... Ok...

The links between cannabis use and mental health issues are far from clear cut or understood yet. And the types of cannabis that are linked to bi-polar/manic episodes tend to be linked to skunk, the very strong type (partly developed due to the fact it is easier to grow it under lights than import from abroad like they used to - another victory for 'The War On Drugs'). This stuff is a world away from what people grow themselves on their terraces. It's like comparing a can of 3% ABV lager with a bottle of 40% vodka.

As the report in the Daily Mail says "Cannabis is the most prevalent drug used by the under-18s." - although I can guarantee you that excludes alcohol which will be the most prevalent drug. It's at this age when mental health conditions often start to appear. So we're back to the same point as above. Would those children develop the mental health conditions without cannabis? Does it just bring it forward a few months/years? The fact is no one really knows for sure. It's a very complicated issue and one that is still being studied.

Would it surprise me if strong cannabis had an effect on people with existing mental health conditions? No. No more than it would if alcohol did. Having spent many years living near a psychiatric hospital, I've come across many people with various mental health issues in the local pubs and had to deal with their drunken psychotic behaviour.

And we're still talking about a very very small number of people. I'd wager more people will get into a fight in Leeds, London or Manchester city centre on a single Friday night because of alcohol than develop manic episodes because of cannabis in a year (admittedly a pure guess).

Oh, and the Daily Mail story ends with how cannabis could be used to treat depression. Who was it before who said the 'so called' medical benefits?

If you want some more factual information to use, try this link - http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/p ... nabis.aspx

Lots if interesting information here but for a start
It is also known that not everyone who uses cannabis, even at a young age, develops a psychotic illness. The available research shows that those who have a family history of a psychotic illness, or those who have certain characteristics such as schizotypal personality, or possibly have certain types of genes, may increase the risk of developing a psychotic illness following the regular use of strong cannabis.
Also interesting is
However, does cannabis cause depression and schizophrenia or do people with these disorders use it as a medication?
The same thing is true for nicotine. Are you aware how many schizophrenics smoke cigarettes? 80% of US schizophrenics smoke compared with 20% of the general population (according to research from 2006 linked to on this page https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Schizophrenia_and_smoking).

Why? Again, no one really knows for sure. There are lots of theories. But one that isn't thrown around freely is 'nicotine causes schizophrenia'. In fact, many studies show nicotine reduces the severity of the symptoms. But if you just took the 80% figure, you could easily say '80% of schizophrenics smoke therefore cigarettes cause schizophrenia'.

But that'd be a really stupid thing to do, right?

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby GerryFelch » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:56 pm

You seem to know my thoughts and what I am or am not going to do, so a repost is pointless and your ability to "guarantee" the outcome of hypothetical scenarios is of a far superior mind than mine. But at the end of the day "smoking weed" makes you delusional and alters your state of mind....a supreme example of which was Kanye West at Glastonbury last evening :lolno:

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby johnr » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:07 pm

Sorry, but I don't smoke weed, or drink.

I guess you're not used to your friends in the pub questioning your 'facts' and having to justify what you spout from your lofty position of ignorance. Go back to preaching to the uneducated and leave the real discussion to those of us who know something about the topic.

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby GerryFelch » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:41 pm

Having read your arrogant and confrontational replies to other posters here, I'm out, but one final thought I have a strong feeling your real name is Rick (with a silent P) and you're stretching it at 5ft 2ins in height. Go on have the last word....you really can't resist now can you :wave:

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby WoodlandHills » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:45 pm

Sorry I'd I stirred up things here with an honest question. I am trying to get an idea of the sort of life I could live in Spain vs that in California based upon feedback from folks who are already there. It seems like, based upon the PMs and posts, things are very much the same.....
Thanks for the responses, positive AND negative!

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby GerryFelch » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:51 pm

Send you a PM

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby johnr » Sun Jun 28, 2015 6:19 pm

GerryFelch wrote:Having read your arrogant and confrontational replies to other posters here, I'm out, but one final thought I have a strong feeling your real name is Rick (with a silent P) and you're stretching it at 5ft 2ins in height. Go on have the last word....you really can't resist now can you :wave:
I'm not bothered about having the last word Gerry. But I'm well above 5ft 2ins (not sure what a person's physical height has to do with opinions, interesting theory - I'd ask you to expand on it but I suspect it would be a waste of time) and I think you're confusing arrogant and confrontational with knowledgeable, factual and open to debate.

You posted a pathetic parody link as evidence for your argument. Then you never bothered even replying to my posts - which I took the time to reply properly to help educate you on something you clearly have little to no knowledge of so we have a real debate rather than one based on knee-jerk reactions.

Your only reply was to accuse me, completely falsely, of being drug-addled and then arrogant and confrontational. You clearly don't like having to justify your views or you would have replied with something less childish than to call me a small ****. Really very pathetic Gerry. Go pour yourself a large one.
Last edited by johnr on Sun Jun 28, 2015 6:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby johnr » Sun Jun 28, 2015 6:21 pm

WoodlandHills wrote:Sorry I'd I stirred up things here with an honest question. I am trying to get an idea of the sort of life I could live in Spain vs that in California based upon feedback from folks who are already there. It seems like, based upon the PMs and posts, things are very much the same.....
Thanks for the responses, positive AND negative!
I think you've learnt one lesson. Spain has a lot of idiotic 'ex-pats' who have no knowledge on anything apart from what they read in the Daily Mail or learn from their mates at the golf club.

But don't let that put you off, there's lots of decent people here too.

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Re: Cannabis: legal or not?

Postby Sampson » Sun Jun 28, 2015 6:33 pm

In my youth I was part of a large highly sociable group of people that indulged in the weed and not once did anyone become aggressive. Silly or very silly yes, but nothing ever seriously anti social.

I gave up cannabis when we started a family without really thinking about it. I'm still in touch with a few of the crowd and there was a re-union a couple of years ago and there was no signs of anyone being addicted to anything. I hadn't thought of it till now, but there was no weed being passed round either!

In the same era I was attacked several times by drunks, part of the occupation hazard of part time bar work in a discotheque. So I prefer to believe what I've experience myself rather what some hack writes to sell newspapers.


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