The Cannabis Social Clubs (CSC) are today an established and existing concreteness on the Spanish territory, but they still represent a parallel reality. In fact, I have repeatedly happened to ask for directions and see the astonished faces of the adjacent traders, unaware of everything, who, at the request of information, looked at me as if I had asked for a direction to the planet Mars.
It is not easy to find them, even knowing where they are. In fact, the CSC regulation provides for an absolute ban on advertising. The hardest to find are those located in large shopping centers. While I was looking for them, my sensation was that of having to find an “invisible” door inside a labyrinth of shops.
In any case, once you understand the logic, it will be easier to find an unlabeled bell in front of a black or white door with no writing. Only some clubs decide to put a logo on the bell or in the corner of the shop window. You can check weedmaps Barcelona for more info. Here you can find the right club for you.
The smells are “kept out,” so I don’t think you can go “by the nose” like in Amsterdam. In almost all of the clubs visited, one tries not to draw too much attention visually and expects that the word will spread among acquaintances.
The CSCs have clear regulations; they are clubs, and as such, to access them, you must register and be over 18 years old. In order to have the card, you need to have the NIE or “the identification number for foreigners” living in Spain.
Being tourists, in most of the clubs, especially those run by Spaniards, we were simply pushed back at the door, while the nicest ones made us go through the door to explain the reasons why we could not enter the club.
We were, therefore, able to visit only the clubs run by Italians who kindly hosted us as “friends” and explained how they work. We were able to buy as ‘friends of friends,’ but they were not able to register us since we were simple tourists and we didn’t have the NIE.
If you intend to venture out in search of clubs, I strongly recommend that you find a friend or local contact to accompany you. Alternatively, you can contact the CSC and look up the exact address via Facebook or the website (which not all clubs have).
The safe alternative is to get yourself an NIE. Also, check that the chosen club is actually active because some still have internet pages but are, in fact, closed or transferred, so read up well before leaving.
I have visited three islands and confirmed the presence of clubs on each of them. In particular, in Tenerife and Gran Canaria, there are at least a dozen active clubs. In Tenerife, many are near the beach, especially in the south, while in Gran Canaria, they are mostly concentrated in the area of the capital, Las Palmas.
The price of weed varies from around 5 to 8 euros per gram, while as far as hashish is concerned, there are extracts of all qualities and all prices. But not all clubs offer draws, and especially not all clubs offer high-quality material.
The clubs, as well as the coffee shops, offer rolling papers, filters, and grinders. Some clubs also offer chilooms, bongs, and vaporizers, which will be sent to you with the only universal rule “who breaks pays.”
In conclusion, after having first imagined and then explored them, I can say that Cannabis social clubs are a truly innovative and extremely functional model, a perfect mechanism for safe distribution with quality control over the final product.
I remind you that cannabis clubs are non-profit associations by statute and are based (or at least should) on the desire to guarantee transparency, comfort, advantageous prices, and certified quality, effectively eliminating drug trafficking and reducing the possibility of buying a product to zero adulteration.
I sincerely hope that this model will soon be adopted also in our country and in the rest of Europe, thus giving smokers the opportunity to create circles of comparison and exchange, as indeed, wine enthusiasts have been able to for years.
