Spain’s cannabis patients in lockdown lockhold

THOUSANDS of patients who use cannabis for medicinal reasons no longer have access to this remedy.

During Spain’s lockdown to combat the Covid-19 pandemic the cannabis clubs where they obtained supplies have closed, leaving the black market as their only solution.

The Union of Patients for the Regulation of Cannabis (UPRC) has now asked the government to authorise the controlled re-opening of Spain’s 1,600 users’ clubs.

Before they closed, the clubs provided an essential service for patients with multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and fibromyalgia.  Cannabis can also help to alleviate the adverse effects of chemotherapy, UPRC president Queralt Prat told the Spanish media.

The Podemos Cannabis Circle is also asking the Unidas Podemos party, to which it belongs, to raise the issue in the national parliament in Madrid.

Although different Spanish regions have different regulations, cannabis clubs are “more or less” legalised and between 200,000 and 500,000 people currently use them for medicinal purposes.

“Patients are desperate.  They have to spend time finding the cannabis that the clubs previously supplied them with.  Now they must look for the people selling it on the black market, risking fines for breaking the lockdown regulations,” Prat said

“It’s like Russian roulette,” she warned.