Court Ratifies San Sebastian Ordinance Supporting the Regulation of Cannabis Social Clubs

A pioneering step was taken in San Sebastian in 2014 when the existence of cannabis social clubs became normalised, thus necessitating public registration and activity licences. The city, since then, has become a reference point and dozens of municipalities have used this ordinance as a benchmark for the regulation of such establishments, so this initial favourable sentence against the state appeal should make matters easier for other towns with the same problem, as may be the case with Barcelona.

The ruling, issued on 16 May this year, establishes "very clearly" that the decision taken by the City Council is "compatible with law" and that the council has power over the regulation, uses and activities of cannabis clubs in the city. The High Court of the Basque Country has ruled that the ordinance only regulates the location of the clubs and the conditions they must observe in order to perform their activities, further adding that in no way are cannabis growing, marketing, importing, exporting, distribution or use being legalised with this decision.

The sentence also imposes the court costs on the central government, rejecting the State Lawyer’s allegations that the ordinance is "null and void" in that it violates the normative hierarchy principle and the authority attributed to the State.

The sentence, moreover, recognises that cannabis clubs are legal associations, duly registered as such in the Register of Associations, and dismisses the State Lawyer’s claim that the City Hall has contravened the international Convention and Spanish legislation on narcotic drugs.

The Basque High Court thus confines the ordinance to municipal competencies over urban planning, and has added that a licence is needed for opening a venue to be used as a cannabis social club, indentifying this use with tertiary recreational use (provision of services to the public) and establishing criteria regarding location and distances, as well as opening hours, among other conditions.

While awaiting this sentence, as well as the definitive regulation on cannabis clubs under the recently passed Addictions Act of the Basque Country, these associations have witnessed an exacerbation of their traditional legal insecurity. Cannabis associations in San Sebastian have been subjected to police searches and interventions, resulting in their management boards being charged with offences against public health and the premises themselves being closed down.

Many of them are now awaiting trial, so this sentence of the Basque High Court comes as a layer of fresh concrete for their unstable foundations. Both this and the current legalising trend in various countries (Portugal, Uruguay or the USA, among others) over the last few years make the stance of the State Prosecutor’s Office all the more incomprehensible when it comes to normalisation processes that have been under debate for years in municipal bodies.