Cannabis Social Clubs: standardization, neoliberalism, political opportunities and prohibition

Authors

  • David Pere Martínez Oró

Keywords:

Drug policy, cannabis social clubs, normalization, political opportunities, neoliberalism

Abstract

In the Spanish state, the cannabis movement has been demanding a review of prohibitionist policies for over thirty years. The movement took advantage of the gaps of the prohibitionist legal framework to articulate the formula of cannabis clubs in order to stock up on cannabis collectively. Among other requirements, such clubs are not allowed to make any profit. This article analyses the influence of the sociocultural normalization of cannabis, the current social context (economic crisis) and the hegemonic discourses (neoliberalism, consumerism...) on the opening of hundreds of clubs since 2011, especially in Barcelona, which also involved the development of club management models which were ill-adapted to the body of law. This situation, together with the undeniable reality of cannabis consumption, has offered the cannabis movement a political opportunity to regulate cannabis clubs, a development which has found synergies in Catalonia, Navarra and the Basque Country. Finally, we reflect on how the prohibitionist stance has hampered the activities of cannabis clubs despite all the social and legal advances which have taken place in recent years.

Keywords:

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How to Cite

Martínez Oró, D. P. (2015). Cannabis Social Clubs: standardization, neoliberalism, political opportunities and prohibition. Clivatge. Journal of Studies on Social Conflict and Change, (3). Retrieved from https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/clivatge/article/view/11985

Issue

No. 3: Social inequality, abuse of power and change processes

Section

New Processes

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