[1/5] A police officer cuts marijuana plants in growing process at underground room of a house during a marijuana raid operation in Mataro, near Barcelona, Spain April 27, 2023.
Consumption of marijuana and its high-potency derivatives is also booming in Barcelona itself, including in private clubs.
Their model, however, faces uncertainty as the new Barcelona mayor's top security official said in March he wanted to ban cannabis clubs.
In 2017, Catalonia fully legalised the clubs, fuelling their proliferation, but courts later overturned the move for procedural reasons.
But many clubs, which are often barely recognisable from outside, do not stick to the rules because they are voluntary, complained Eric Asensio, head of the Catalan federation of cannabis clubs.
Persons:
Pol, Antoni Salleras, Salleras, Alexis Goosdeel, Bernardo Soriano, Eric Asensio, Horaci Garcia, Joan Faus, Catarina Demony, Aislinn Laing, Andrei Khalip, Toby Chopra
Organizations:
REUTERS, Barcelona, BARCELONA, Reuters, Cannabis, Thomson
Locations:
Mataro, Barcelona, Spain, Spanish, Catalonia, Americas, Europe, Morocco, Latin America, Worth, Geneva, Amsterdam, EU, France, Catalan, Lisbon