International
Farewell to the Spanish Observatory of Medical Cannabis
After a decade of fighting for fairer policies for patients who need access to cannabis in Spain, Carola Pérez, founder and president of Spanish Observatory of Medical Cannabis(OECM) announced that it is throwing in the towel and dissolving the association, due to the systematic and growing difficulties in defending patients, and the plant, in the country's political context.
It was through her personal LinkedIn page that Carola Pérez informed the community, in a tone of frustration: “It has been 10 years of fighting against the Spanish government. We have worked hard, we have made a great effort. We were born with a death sentence, and now it's time to rest. We cannot do any more with this cruel and inhumane Ministry of Health. We have taken a big step, considering the PSOE’s refusal to provide any kind of relief to patients (except for Sativex®and Epidiolex ®). It’s not enough for us but, to be honest, we can’t achieve more at the moment.”
Just when things seem to be moving forward in Spain in terms of medicinal cannabis, the news took a large part of the community by surprise. But speaking to CannaReporter® during Spannabis in Barcelona, Carola explained that they decided to close the Observatory at this time “because now that the royal decree has been finalized and will be published soon, we have achieved our goal”. However, she once again expressed her frustration, explaining that “maybe we haven’t achieved the things we would have liked to do to satisfy patients, but, as in other countries, you get done what you can. It’s been an incredible 10 years and now it’s time to rest.”
According to the website, the Spanish Observatory of Medicinal Cannabis was created in 2015 with the aim of “promoting, coordinating and implementing activities and projects that promote knowledge of the properties and medicinal uses of cannabis and its derivatives”. Their scope of action expanded to providing advice and information about the plant, based on scientific evidence, to public and private institutions, as well as to civil society. It was formed by associations of patients, researchers and doctors, among them Professor Manuel Guzmán, a researcher at the Biochemistry and Molecular Biologyat the Complutense University of Madrid, who has been one of the most active voices in cannabinoid-related science in Spain.
The strange case of Spain
Spain is a peculiar case in the panorama of medical cannabis – and cannabis in general. Despite the clear openness of the society towards the plant, the historical negligence towards home grow (the law allows growing a small, unspecified quantity of plants in a private environment) and being the country where cannabis clubs have proliferated from Barcelona to other regions – even though they are not legal–, the Spanish Ministry of Health has not kept up with developments in the rest of the world, taking a long time to publish specific regulations for the use of cannabis for medical purposes. It was only last year that the newly appointed Minister of Health, Mónica García, announced the new legal framework, in accordance with the recommendations of the Health Committee of the Congress, and finally presented it for public consultation. After receiving the reactions (largely ignored) and without any changes done to the draft by the European Union, the “Royal Decree regulating the dispensation of master formulas of standardized cannabis products with therapeutic purposes” should be ratified by the summer.
As CannaReporter®reportedat the time, the reactions of patients and associations – including the OECM – were also of great frustration, since the proposal denies patients access to flowers and oils, “allowing only cannabis-based medicines to be prescribed in the form of 'master formulas', made from standardized extracts or preparations”. In other words: patients can only access Epidiolex ®and Sativex ®, two medicines sold only in hospital pharmacies, at much higher prices than flowers or other types of preparations. Yet, in most cases, patients need other compositions, with different proportions of cannabinoids and terpenes, that can be more appropriate for their particular illnesses or conditions.
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[Disclaimer: Please note that this text was originally written in Portuguese and is translated into English and other languages using an automatic translator. Some words may differ from the original and typos or errors may occur in other languages.]____________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Margarita has been a regular contributor to CannaReporter since its inception in 2017, having previously worked for other cannabis-focused media outlets such as Cáñamo magazine (Spain), CannaDouro Magazine (Portugal) and Cannapress. She was part of the original team for the Portuguese edition of Cânhamo in the early 2000s and was part of the organisation of the Global Marijuana March in Portugal between 2007 and 2009.
She recently published the book “Canábis - Maldita e Maravilhosa” / "Cannabis - Cursed and Wonderful" (Ed. Oficina do Livro / LeYA, 2024), about the history of the plant, its ancestral relationship with Humans as a raw material, an entheogen and a recreational drug, as well as the infinite potential it holds in medical, industrial and environmental terms.
With a degree in Journalism from the University of Coimbra, Laura Ramos has a postgraduate degree in Photography and has been a Journalist since 1998. Winner of the Business of Cannabis Awards in the category "Journalist of the Year 2024", Laura was a correspondent for Jornal de Notícias in Rome, Italy, and Press Officer in the Office of the Minister of Education of the 21st Portuguese Government. She has an international certification in Permaculture (PDC) and created the street-art photography archive “Say What? Lisbon” @saywhatlisbon. Co-founder and Editor of CannaReporter® and coordinator of PTMC - Portugal Medical Cannabis, Laura directed the documentary “Pacientes” and was part of the steering group of the first Postgraduate Course in GxP's for Medicinal Cannabis in Portugal, in partnership with the Military Laboratory and the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon.
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