As Spain emerges from months of political deadlock, the newly formed government has finally made a meaningful commitment to gradually break the impasse on medical cannabis in the country.
Although his new government achieved a hard-fought victory, sparking protests in the streets of Spain and a dispute with Brussels, it remains unable to fulfill the previous government’s promise to establish a medicinal cannabis framework in the country. appointed a Minister of Health to focus on
According to Carola Pérez, president of the Spanish Observatory for Medical Cannabis (OECM), which continues to play a central role in establishing medical cannabis in Spain, this initiative marks a turning point in a 10-year campaign.
“I’ve been doing this work for 10 years, and every day I see a signed document is a day of celebration for me. But today is also a day of celebration, because there are people who really care about patients. She is also a pain specialist.
“I’m really happy that[the government]has said that they will consult with us to improve the situation as much as possible. It’s the first time I’m hearing this from the Spanish government.”
what happened?
Last week, newly appointed Health Minister Mónica García Gómez promised to reboot the government’s long-promised plan to regulate medical cannabis.
It was originally scheduled to take effect in January 2023, but it has been repeatedly pushed into the cold by the previous government and put on hold indefinitely since the snap general election in July 2023, with Mr. Garcia now He is understood to have taken the issue to his top. agenda.
According to local media, the health minister met with the management of the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) regarding a draft ministerial regulation that they were tasked with preparing in 2022 to set out the initial regulatory framework. .
The draft has been sent to the Ministry of Health, which has reportedly committed to holding “meetings with organizations that have been working on this issue, primarily the OECM.”
Perez said: cannabis business: “When she took the position, the first thing she said was we had been waiting a year for documentation from AEMPS and we wanted to move forward with this.
“Personally, I was beginning to think that this document did not exist, but when I spoke to the Secretary to the Minister of Health, I was told that it does exist.
“She insisted the government was going to do this quickly and would be consulting with patients and experts. The previous government made promises but we knew they would do nothing. . Now we truly believe it will happen. This is different.”
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She added that Ms. Garcia is from the left-wing, pro-cannabis Smar party and has been a long-time supporter of medical cannabis.
Mr. García is a qualified anesthesiologist who has been combining politics with a career in health care since 2015, as well as having a long association with the OECM and being the first politician to meet with Mr. Perez in 2015. .
This positive view of the new Health Minister is shared by many in the industry. Don Bellamy, CEO of Spanish medical cannabis company Linneo Health, said: “Spain’s newly appointed Minister of Health, Mónica García Gómez, recently announced that the Subcommittee on Regulatory Bills “We are very encouraged by the ministry’s intention to pick up the work that had been suspended,” he added. Medical cannabis in Spain.
“This is important news and a reassurance for patients in Spain, as the law represents a major step forward in providing Spanish patients with access to safe, high-quality medical cannabis products and managing their symptoms. We look forward to continuing to engage in discussions with the government to make this a reality for these patients.”
Dates for further talks have not yet been confirmed, but sources on both sides suggest talks will take place in the coming weeks.
one year delay
The process has now been underway for more than 18 months, but Spain’s turbulent political situation has caused numerous delays.
In June 2022, after more than a year of research, a subcommittee tasked with examining medical cannabis frameworks being rolled out around the world issued recommendations on what a similar framework might look like in Spain. These proposals were given the green light in dramatic fashion later that month.
AEMPS will then develop a document with recommendations on how to adapt the framework to national regulations and ensure it is legally viable for implementation in January 2023. They were given just six months to do so.
However, the government remained tight-lipped about why this deadline had passed or been delayed. It wasn’t until March 2023 that the issue was finally resolved, with the government backtracking on its commitment, saying there was “insufficient” information available to recommend its use.
Despite promises made by the government in May, it confirmed in June that proposals for the rollout of a medical cannabis framework would not be made before the general election in July.
Josep Antón Sánchez, director of Spain’s Medcan/Decan Clinic, said: “The equality of results in Spanish elections allows the Socialist Party to make a clear statement in favor of cannabis options, even for therapeutic use. I couldn’t do it,” he explained. I believe the time has come to take a stand on issues that 84% of Spaniards agree with, including the need for full regulation. ”
The summer elections were inconclusive, and the conservative People’s Party (PP) finished in first place, but party leader Alberto Nuñez Feijó lost the parliamentary votes important to becoming prime minister in September, and was unable to form a government. It didn’t get enough votes.
In October, incumbent Socialist Party leader Pedro Sánchez announced that his party had reached an agreement with the far-left Smar party, unexpectedly succeeding in forming a de facto coalition government with additional parties.
Sanchez concluded: “I strongly believe that we have never been this close to legalization. Politically speaking, there are a lot of open fronts right now, but the common good that we are trying to protect, health. , it is clear that it should be beyond politics’ ideology, especially now that there is sufficient scientific evidence…the problem will always be there. We are running a marathon, not a sprint. ”