San Sebastian Police Close Down One of Spain’s leading Cannabis Clubs, with a Membership of More Than One Thousand

Paradoxically, this is the same amount of cannabis that the Basque police had found in a previous raid a few months ago and which the club managers had identified with the minimum amount authorised for distribution among members. The president of the association, whose home has been searched, the secretary and the treasurer all stand accused in the current investigation, which is now sub judice. 

The Strain Hunters venue, which is owned by Green House, the well-known Dutch seed bank, opened its doors almost two years ago, shortly before the entry into force of the ordinance ruling the location of cannabis clubs, which was unanimously passed by the City Council of San Sebastian and has just been endorsed by the High Court of the Basque Country (TSJPV). Located at Miguel Imaz, 2, right in front of Zurriola Beach and in the middle of the Gros quarter, the club had managed to become one of the city’s most fashionable venues, as it also had a bar and a restaurant.

The club actually obtained its activity licence as a gastronomic club, as there was no legislation on cannabis clubs at the time of its inauguration. Now it is properly registered as a cannabis club, in accordance with the municipal ordinance currently in force in San Sebastian, which allows cannabis use in venues restricted to persons of legal age.

The court is now analysing whether the venue, in addition to this activity, has engaged in illegal drug trafficking. The high membership of the Strain Hunters Club in Gros may have led to the investigation, which was initiated by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office of Gipuzkoa and aims to determine whether the establishment merely sells its members cannabis amounts for private use or also sells it in higher measures, thus possibly amounting to an offence against public health. For the time being, as a cautionary measure, the club will remain closed under court order for several weeks.

This is not the first time that this particular Strain Hunters venue has been under investigation. On several past occasions, members the Basque police stationed themselves outside the premises to control the club’s members and check if the amounts of drugs carried were compatible with personal use. During the closure of the venue, some of the members complained about being frisked in the street, as if they were criminals, and in view of passersby. 

All of this contradicts the fact that the 7 April this year saw the entry into effect of the Addictions Act of the Basque Country, which recognises the existence of cannabis clubs, as well as "the development and work they must perform." The Basque Parliament had already sought legal security for cannabis clubs with this law as "they have long been functioning in the Basque Country and are carrying out an orderly and responsible job of marijuana use self-regulation." 

The closure of the Strain Hunters club represents a new blow by the authorities to associations of this kind, which have been complaining about an increase in repression following the unfavourable sentences passed by the Supreme Court, especially against those associations with a membership of more than 300 and still open to new members, on the grounds that they pave the way for offences against public health as contemplated in article 368 of the Criminal Code and their activities do not qualify as non-punishable shared growing.