What's the law on cannabis edibles in Spain?
Spain's Ministry of Health recently took steps to ban the sale and distribution of synthetic cannabis sweets and gummies in the country, as part of a wider bid to limit the sale of new types of cannabis compounds used to skirt legislation.
The order was published in the Official State Gazette on April 22nd and has already come into force.
According to the legal text: "In order to adapt to the changing situation involved in illicit drug trafficking and to face the increasing challenges posed by trafficking and consumption of new psychoactive substances, improve control over the circulation of these substances and contribute to their prevention and repression, the lists... must be updated periodically, in order to incorporate new psychoactive substances that have been subjected to international control measures by decisions of the United Nations Narcotics Commission, thus guaranteeing their control at national level and complying with the obligations arising from the United Nations Convention of 21 February 1971 on Psychotropic Substances."
Put simply, although these sweets do not contain the active ingredient THC, they do contain other semi-synthetic substances derived from it which are artificially modified in labs and which can cause effects similar to or even more pronounced than smoking normal cannabis. This is what the government is hoping to crack down on.
The Ministry maintains that these sweets are still "cannabinoids" without a pharmacological application to which "control mechanisms" must be applied. This follows warnings from medical professionals amid a spike in cases of unsuspecting people buying edibles and ending up in hospital.
The issue of synthetic cannabis sweets is a particular concern in Barcelona. In early April, the toxicology unit at the Hospital Clínic Barcelona issued a warning that cases of intoxication from consuming cannabis sweets had doubled in two years, with 24 cases treated in 2024.
In most cases, 58 percent, the patients were middle-aged female tourists who had bought these products as souvenirs or as a joke in one of the many cannabis-related shops that increasingly dominate the city centre of the Catalan capital.
There have been more cases of poisoning detected in Madrid and Andalusia, but the final figure is unknown because as these are both edible products and narcotics, data reports have not yet been centralised, according to the Ministry of Health.
Are cannabis edibles legal in Spain?
As is so often the case when it comes to Spanish law, the answer is: it depends. Note that regular cannabis edibles such as brownies or cookies, though commonly consumed, were technically already illegal to sell in Spain because they contain THC.
Selling any THC product, in whatever form, is illegal in Spain. This new measure bans the sale of these synthetic-based cannabis products, which have been able to skirt around rules in many cases by being ahead of the legislation.
This is also the case in terms of synthetic-based HHC-vapes and other products sold in CBD and head shops around Spain.
Consumption, on the other hand, is a different matter. As The Local has covered in detail in the past, cannabis in Spain exists in a strange sort of legal grey area. Private possession and consumption is decriminalised in Spain, but only on private property.
This could be in a private home or in one of Spain's cannabis associations, so THC edibles can be consumed there.
However, as with the cannabis flower or hashish, the moment you step on the street and into public you are technically breaking the law. In Spain, despite not being illegal to consume cannabis in private, public possession alone is illegal and punishable by fines. Cannabis edibles are no different in this regard.
The recent crackdown on synthetic-based edibles is an attempt by the state to catch up with the advancing science, which meant new synthetic cannabinoids were outpacing the government and not regulated by law.
These sweets and edibles are often made from semi-synthetic cannabis derivatives up to 30 times more potent than THC, such as THCP or HHC. These are synthetic, lab-produced cannabis derivatives that can cause serious symptoms, specialists have warned.
Food products in Spain are regulated by the Spanish Food Safety and Nutrition Agency (AESAN). According to its regulations it is not permitted to sell edible products containing THC in Spain.
Cannabis may only be grown for industrial or scientific purposes, provided that it contains less than 0.2 percent THC.
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