Barcelona Cannabis Club Guide
Now there’s another great reason to visit Barcelona! This popular Spanish city known for its beaches, Las Ramblas and great nightlife is also somewhere that you are legally allowed to smoke marijuana. Follow the strict rules and gain membership to one of the relevant clubs so you can smoke weed without fear of arrest. Here is a guide to those clubs, along with answers to your burning questions.
1. Is that legal? What is the legal status of marijuana?
There are some very strict rules since the clubs exist as a sort-of legal loophole rather than a buying and selling merchant system. Still, if you join one of these clubs and pay your membership, then you may pay a visit and smoke a little weed. If you are a registered member of a cannabis club in Barcelona, then you are not breaking the law. However, the legal status of marijuana is that it is illegal, and selling, carrying, trafficking, or smoking it in public could land you in jail, or you could end up being fined.
2. What are we allowed to do?
When you go to a Barcelona club you will be able to help yourself to free rizla and a roach card, which are normally by the weed counter. You can ask advice about paraphernalia, from bongs, pipes, and whether the strains are Sativa or Indica. If you get the munchies while in the club, you are able to bring your own food and drinks with you. However, you cannot bring alcohol into the club with you. It is advised that when you go to some of the cannabis clubs in Barcelona, that you take your ID. This will prove to them who you are, and that you are on their list. If you don’t have any ID, they may turn you away at the door.
3. What aren’t we allowed to do?
Do not buy weed from or for anyone outside of the club, as having cannabis on you, or giving it to friends or family is deemed as a crime in Barcelona. That is why you should keep all of your weed activities in the club where you know you will be safe. When in the club, you will need to make sure you do not make the mistake of mixing up the mixing bowl for the ashtrays, as you don’t want to be putting ash into the mixing bowl. When in the club do not use purchasing or financial words, as the club cannot sell you the weed. As you are a member of the club you are given what you signed up for, as you are contributing to the cannabis that is grown by the club, and you are paying for your share.
4. Why is it forbidden to buy on the street and why should you fear street touts?
As cannabis is illegal in Barcelona, if you are caught giving it to a friend, or smoking it, you are breaking the law. There is no point in buying it on the street when there are clubs that exists where you can go and where it is legal to smoke weed. If you attempt to buy weed from street tout, you may run the risk of being caught by the police, as the street tout might be a police officer undercover. In addition, when you buy from the streets, you may get a bad batch, you can’t smoke it in public, they may price the weed too high, they make carry weapons on them, and you could end up in hospital or jail.
5. How do Barcelona clubs differ from Amsterdam?
Barcelona clubs differ from Amsterdam because to get into one of Amsterdam’s clubs all you need is your ID. Barcelona clubs are for members only. Amsterdam allows people to meet up at the club, they allow people go in to watch the football, arrange parties with a DJ, and listen to concerts. The clubs in Amsterdam all have the same design of looking like a cafe, where Barcelona clubs have more class and look like posh night clubs. In order to pay for the weed, you will need to have a special card for a Barcelona club. In Amsterdam, you can walk in, you can pay with cash, and you don’t need to have a special card to make the payment through any sort of membership scheme. Also in Amsterdam you can buy the cannabis and take it home, but in Barcelona you can only receive (not buy) and smoke cannabis on the premises of the club.
6. What are cannabis social clubs, what is their essence?
A cannabis social club is a legal cannabis hub that allows people to use cannabis safely without worrying about if they are going to get caught by the police. The essence is typically refined, upmarket, and very mellow. It is not a place for parties, nor is it a place for shiftless people. Barcelona’s weed clubs are trying to push the respectability of weed smoking, and so will not accept rowdy behaviour, or undignified mannerisms.
7. Why do I need to become a member of the club? Why do I need a club membership?
In order to smoke at the club, you need to be a member. This will protect the club and it will protect you too. Being a member is a big thing in Barcelona. You won’t be allowed in the building if you have not been approved. The legality of these clubs hangs on a shoestring, and they are not willing to compromise it by letting anybody wander in from the streets. On the other hand, it is easier to get a Barcelona weed club membership than it is to get a shotgun licence in the UK, in that memberships are not limited to people of a certain socioeconomic class. However, you will need to put your best foot forwards if you wish to be considered.
8. Can I just come from the street without a membership? Can I visit the cannabis club as a guest without registration?
In Amsterdam you can go to a cannabis club on the street if you have ID but in Barcelona, you won’t be allowed through the door because it is a members only situation. In Barcelona, if you are not a member you are not getting into the club, even as a guest. This is not because of some privacy law, but because the owners of the club wish to control the sort of people who enter. Allowing guests means allowing in people who have not been vetted and who have not paid their membership dues, which is why guests are not allowed, and is why people are not allowed to walk in off the streets.
9. Who can visit cannabis clubs? From what age? Do I need Spanish citizenship for this?
To join a cannabis club, you will need to be 18 or 21 years of age depending on which clubs you go to. You yourself need to be a consumer of cannabis for medical or leisure purposes. Though there is no lawful rule saying that people have to be Spanish citizens, it is easier to get a membership if you are a Spanish citizen. Nevertheless, exchange students have been known to gain memberships, as have work exchange people and foreign politicians, so there is no hard-and-fast rule saying you need a Spanish citizenship.
10. Why should I show my ID card at the club?
Showing the front desk your ID card will prove you are the person who you are saying you are, and they will be able to check your age and address. Your ID is tracked for things like your membership dues are up to date and if you have had a warning or have been banned. Think of it like a small passport control where if you caused trouble last time, then you probably won’t be allowed back in this time.
11. What products are presented in the club? What can I smoke?
You will have the option of marijuana, cannabis, and hashish. You are not allowed to bring your own drugs or alcohol into the premises. In every club, you will be allowed to use the club’s paraphernalia, though some charge you for it. The truth is that different clubs are starting to offer slightly different varieties of weed products. There is nothing too extravagant, but you may find that some clubs feature a strain or variety of weed that you fancy.
12. How much do the presented products cost? What is the pricing policy?
The general policy followed by most clubs is 5 grams of cannabis per member, per day, and can go up to 100 grams per month, but this maybe different for all of the clubs. Prices vary wildly and are often representative of the quality of the premises themselves. There are many clubs to visit but only a handful of them are worth it. Their prices are no worse than what you find on the street in terms of product consumer vs amount paid, but you do not get the nasty contaminants that come with street weed.
13. Okay, I’m inside the club, what’s next? How does it work?
Once inside you will need to keep to the rules of the club, have a good time, relax, don’t disturb others, and be positive. Do not try to trick your way into getting more than your allotted amount of weed, and do not try to buy other people’s supply from them. The point of limits on weed are there to stop people having Whitey or a Freak Out, which is why rules are pretty strict.
