Spain has become the first producer of this substance in the European Union
The State Attorney General’s Office warns in its latest annual report of the “worrying trend of the trivialization of the consumption of substances such as cannabis” regarding which, in his opinion, “confusing and interested information” proliferates that requires “a response that goes beyond what can be done through criminal action.” In this sense, he points out that the ‘UN World Drug Report’‘has warned of the increase in marijuana concentrations that They reach up to 50% THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the substance that generates psychoactive effects and has the ability to alter the perception and mood of those who consume it. Spain is currently the leading cannabis producer in the European Union.
The report of the Attorney General’s Office, written by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office, specifies that the same UN report states that, “in the face of a reality where around one third of people who seek drug treatment services do so for cannabis use“commercial interests advertise the opposite, granting benefits of all kinds to this substance.”
Attraction among young people
This circumstance, in his opinion, attracts young consumers who end up “suffering serious damage to their health.” Experts maintain that the consumption of this drug can cause seizures. anxiety, memory gaps either risk of schizophreniaamong other consequences.
The prosecution also states that, in March 2023, the International Narcotics Control Board, INCB (INCB, in its acronym in English), a body that ensures compliance by governments on this matter, published its annual report in which it expressed its concern about the impact of the trend towards legalization of consumption recreational, stating that experience shows that this possibility “leads to a increased consumption and minimization of risk perception”. Hence he warned about the “enormous extension and diffusion of this substance.”
More risky substance
According to the prosecutor’s office, the arrests in Spain confirm these trends and show larger, more organized crops, with plants that have a higher concentration of THC and from which a higher yield is obtained. He points out that in recent years percentages higher than 20% of THC have been found in the cannabis plant and increases of 50% and up to 92% in hashish, the result of “increasingly easier genetic manipulation,” which should generate the consequent alarm given “the notorious harmful potential of that substance.”
The public ministry maintains that in Spain this confusion is observed, which is denounced by the International Narcotics Board and “trivialization” of consumption that is widespread, especially among young people, which is why the delegate of the Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office in Barcelona goes so far as to raise whether, in cases of high concentrations of THC, it would be necessary to reconsider the classification of cannabis as a substance that does not cause serious harm to health.
Violent foreign gangs
The circumstances, climate and geography, the prosecution insists, place Spain not only in the traditional scenario of a country of transit and consumption of drugs, especially hashish and cocaine, but also as a producer of cannabis. TOndalucía, especially Algeciras and Granada, Catalunya and Murcia are in the lead, although there are more and more interior provinces, such as Toledo or Ciudad Real, that are used by organizations to plant marijuana, both outdoors and in ‘indoor’ facilities. In Catalonia we are increasingly seeing the installation of foreign gangs that, “taking advantage of a certain social tolerance”, carry out plantations and distribute the plants throughout Europe.
Both the prosecutor’s office and the police forces have confirmed that these foreign organizations, which not only operate in Catalonia, but throughout Spain, and work with “national structures”; They are increasingly violent, as revealed by a greater seizure of weapons and the increase in brawls over drug thefts between gangs, the so-called “overturns.”