Cannabis Fantastic

The small country town of Rasquera, in Catalonia, Spain is seeking to put a dent in their unemployment crisis and their town debt by leasing out some land the city owns for the purpose of growing marijuana. The town hall council voted to sign a $1.7 million dollar agreement with a cannabis users association in the nearby city of Barcelona. They are looking for a place to plant marijuana for its roughly 5000 member association. They are hoping to plant on over 17 acres of land in the small town of less than 1000 residents.

The Mayor told the town hall that it was a chance for the town to bring in money and create jobs, still some residents that attended the packed town hall meeting this week worried that it may make their small township a mecca for drug use. The town has sought legal advice to make sure that it doesn’t break any of Spain’s ambiguous and liberal cannabis laws.

The Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Association says that they will be planting more than cannabis, they that will also be rotating in crops of cereal and sugar beet as well as cannabis to supply their members. According to The Guardian, clubs like the Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Club is just one of a growing numbers of private clubs that are in a legal grey area, and set up like some collectives in medical marijuana states in the US. Members pay fees, and in turn those fees go towards growing costs to grow the marijuana that is then sold back to the members at a great price to help offset growing and operation costs.

The Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Club will pay the town about $860,000 dollars a year for the right to grow cannabis in the town. Rasquera, with a population of only 920, will also get to fill about 40 jobs on the cannabis farm. It would allow the town to pay off its $1.7 millions dollar debit in two years. A second Barcenlona Cannabis club is also in talks with the tiny town. They have 7,000 members and are looking for a similar deal. The Mayor of Rasquera, Bernat Pellisa of the Catalan Republic Left Party admitted that they have a few projects in the wings. Another would be to supply seeds to Spain’s growing numbers of seed supply shops. If a second deal is made, it would turn the town of Rasquera that is traditionally known for growing olives, almonds and raising sheep, into the largest legal suppler of cannabis in Europe.

Mayor Pellisa has contacted the local police about the project and they said they will consult their lawyers, but he says the town will demand sovereignty on the issue. The town has agreed to set up a committee to draw up protocols on “security and Risk control”.

External Links:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/giant-marijuana-crop-the-fix-for-spanish-town-high-on-debt-20120302-1u8gx.html#ixzz1o00S1X1v