The legal business of marijuana

A non-smoking sign warns visitors against doing what many of them had in mind as they entered the Fira de Cornellá business center, in the outskirts of Barcelona, Spain.

About 20,000 cannabis experts and fans from across Europe are expected to gather here in the next three days for Spain’s largest legal event on the topic, known as Spannabis.

While machines to inhale and trimmer cannabis, as well as seeds to grow it are sold and advertised in the fair, organizers make sure no law is breached by exhibitors and attendants. This is despite the city’s reputation as a place where the use of cannabis is widely tolerated by the authorities in public places including bars, stations and even trains.

“We never had any problems with the authorities,” said Raúl Del Pino, spokesperson of Spannabis, which has always taken place in Barcelona since its first edition in 2002.

“We have always obtained the necessary authorizations from the municipality and police came here and checked everything out before we opened to the public,” Del Pino said.

Although similar events attract thousands of visitors to other European cities such as Amsterdam, the Netherlands - popular with cannabis consumers due to the country’s policy of tolerance on soft drugs – the Barcelona fair remains among the biggest in the continent.

“The professional level of our exhibitors is remarkable,” said Del Pino. “They come from across the world with seeds and fertilizers of the best quality.”

Selling cannabis seeds is legal in Spain, as well as growing plants in small quantities.

Several sellers in the fair, though, say they commercialize seeds mainly for health purposes, the medical use of cannabis being legal in the country.

“Those who use cannabis for health issues are still a minority,” said Jak De Sostoa. “But the ones who use it for recreational purposes keep the market going, so we can still sell seeds for medical plants.”

De Sostoa, who will soon turn 22, is not among the thousands of young unemployed whose number is rising in Barcelona more than in other Spanish cities after the country was hit by the economic crisis.

The local medical seed company he works with was not hit by the financial downturn. And it complies to all of the country laws, including fiscal ones.

“We pay taxes and do everything according to the law,” said De Sostoa. “There is a lot of illegality in this business, but we are not part of it. Our clients know we are serious and not just a bunch of kids who spend their days smoking joints in some park.”

Fibromyalgia, a syndrome causing pain and stiffness, is among the main disorders suffered by De Sostoa’s clients, who also grow plants to alleviate the symptoms of chronic fatigue and muscular pain, as well as to reduce the impact of chemotherapy’s side effects.

Seeds sold by De Sostoa cost up to 30 euros ($41) for three units and 100 euros ($136) for ten, but he said his company regularly donates many of them to a medical doctor in Barcelona who has the authorization to produce and prescribe marijuana to her patients.

“Some people are sick and tired of taking medicines,” said De Sostoa. “They realized they can suffer less by using cannabis. As adults, they have the right to decide what is better for them.”

Canadian exhibitor Andrew Mercer, sells 50 to 100 of his trimmers and press machines in Spain, but most of his clients are based in North America.

“There is a legal market for the medical marijuana,” he said. “There is always a legal use for a product. When you buy a knife you can use it for legal purposes or to kill a person, but the manufacturer is not responsible.”

In the U.S., the medical use of marijuana is allowed by state laws in several states. In California, guidelines on the legal production and use of medicinal marijuana are left to local jurisdiction. There, medicinal marijuana is mainly used to address chronic pain according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Medicinal marijuana is reportedly used in California in the treatment of several diseases, including HIV/AIDS- related illnesses and mood disorders. A number of traffickers, though, managed to take advantage of the law due to what DEA called “the state confusion that exists in California,” where they are often classified as care givers and granted impunity.