Spain countries/es.yaml
Possession exclusively for personal use in a private place is not anfalls outside the trafficking offence; courts generally treat up to about.[@penal,tni] The law gives no general 100 g as personalallowance. In[@penal] Unlawful possession in public itplaces or collective transport is different: carrying any amount is a serious administrative infraction with a fine of €601offence, even without intent to supply, carrying €601–30,000 and confiscation.[@boe] Drugs may be confiscated.[@boe]
wikipenal, tni, boe
GrowingPrivate cultivation exclusively for your ownpersonal use in private is not a crime, andfalls outside the supply offence; there is no fixedstatutory household plant limit — courts look at whether the amount is consistent with personal useallowance. Plants[@penal,tni] Growing unlawfully where the plants are visible from ato the public place bring abrings €601–30,000 finewhere it is not already a crime.[@boe] Growing for supply can be prosecuted under Article 368.[@penal]
wikipenal, localtni, boe
Users faceThe [2015 public-security law](/history/spain-public-safety-law-2015/) treats public possession and use as administrative fines, not criminal chargesoffences. Trafficking is punished with[@boe] Cannabis supply ordinarily brings one to three years in prison for cannabis, more for large quantitiesand a fine of one to twice the drug’s value; aggravated circumstances raise the penalty.[@penal,tni]
localboe, wikipenal, tni
Courts recognise 'a narrow shared-consumption' among exception for a small, closed group of adultexisting users as non-criminal.[@tni] Organised, which iscontinuing distribution to a large membership can fall outside it: the doctrine cannabis clubs rely onEbers case concerned 290 members. Outside that narrow setting, handing over[@ebers] Supply need not make a profit to engage Article 368; the ordinary cannabis penalty is traffickingone to three years plus a value-based fine.[@penal,tni]
tni, wikiebers, penal
Legal at home and inside private clubsPrivate personal consumption is not a criminal offence. Consuming in streets[@tni] Public use, parks, bars, vehicles orincluding in public establishments and collective transport is fined from, carries €601–30,000 under the [2015 law](/history/spain-public-safety-law-2015/).[@boe] A club’s private status does not settle the legality of its supply.[@ebers]
tni, boe, localebers
No legal shopsThere are no general recreational retail licences. Hundreds of [@tni] Private [cannabis social clubs — private non](/culture/traditions/cannabis-profit associations, concentrated in Catalonia and the Basque Country —social-clubs/) collectively supply members in a tolerated grey zone, but registration as an association does not authorise drug distribution. Clubs[@tdpf18,ebers] Organisers have been raided and their organisers convictedfaced prosecution, and membership is meant for residentsBarcelona clubs have faced closure action.[@ice24]
tni, wikitdpf18, ebers, ice24
Adults get cannabis at home or in a private club: possession for personalPersonal use in private is no offence (courts treat about 100 g as personal), and growing for own useexclusively personal possession in private is no crime with no fixed plant limitfall outside criminal trafficking rules.[@wikipenal,boe,localtni] InUnlawful public, any amount possession or use still brings a €601–30,000 fine and confiscation.[@wiki,boe] Trafficking means one to three yearsClubs developed collective growing and distribution around the shared-consumption doctrine, more for large quantitiesbut that doctrine does not provide a general club supply licence.[@localtdpf18,wikiebers]
wikipenal, tni, boe, localtdpf18, ebers
No licensing for adult-use production; clubs grow collectively at their own legal risk. The medicines agency licenses a few companies for’s July 2026 list names authorised medical and research cultivationscientific growers, mostlyincluding Linneo Health, Medical Plants and Ondara.[@aempslist] Other permissions cover seeds, cuttings or validation batches rather than unrestricted production.[@aempslist] These authorisations are distinct from recreational clubs and from the agricultural exception for exportfibre, grain and seed.[@aempsgrow,tni]
tniaempslist, wikiaempsgrow, tni
Clubs offer flower, hash and extracts informally. CBD products are sold widely though not approved for consumption.
wiki
A royal decree in force on 10 October 2025 lets hospital specialists prescribe a standardi … iled, and hospital pharmacies make it up and hand it out.[@boe903] The national formulary limits it tolists muscle stiffness from multiple sclerosis, severe epilepsy, nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy and chronic pain, as an oral solution; other indications follow the special-access medicine rules.[@aemps043] In July 2026 one company registered the first two extracts, and on 17 October … le by the end of the month.[@elmundo17] Ordinary pharmacies cannot dispense them.[@boe903]
Grow shops have sold cannabisinterviewed in 2018 described selling seeds openly since about 2000, alongside soil, lamps and fertiliser. Shop owners interviewed in 2018[@grow] They said the trade is legal because seeds containcontained no THC, and that whatresponsibility for subsequent growing lay with the buyer then grows at home is the buyer's affair.[@grow] The sources read doreport did not coverdetermine the position of cuttings.[@grow]
Spain has the largest network of The [social-club model](/culture/traditions/cannabis-social-clubs in Europe, built on court doctrine and not on any law:/) developed around private personal use and growing for one's own use are not crimes, and 'the narrow shared-consumption' among a closed group of adults has long been tolerated doctrine. The first club was founded in 2001. Estimates run from about[@tdpf18,tni] Transform estimated roughly 400 clubs or similar associations in 2018 to a peak of 800 to 1,000 concentrated in the late 2010s, most of them in Catalonia and the Basque Country. A club registers as a non-profit association, admits adults on the word of an[@tdpf18] Its description includes admission through existing members, projected member consumption, grows for its expected membershipcost-covering fees and hands out about 3 gvoluntary rules.[@tdpf18] These are operating practices rather than a day for use onnational legal allowance.[@tni] In the premisesEbers litigation, charging feesorganised supply to cover costs. Clubs follow their own codes or those of regional federations. The Supreme Court convicted290 members fell outside the organisers of three clubs in 2015, finding that what they did was not genuine private consumption, and police raids and investigations continueshared-use rationale; a later constitutional appeal concerned the defendants’ procedural rights. Some[@ebers] ICEERS reported Barcelona clubs grew to thousands of members by admitting tourists,fines and sinceclosure orders in 2024 the city has fined clubs and ordered some to close. In[@ice24] A July 2026 the government approved a draft tobacco-law thatdraft would remove the exemption for private smokers'’ clubs on which thecannabis clubs also rely.[@boc26]
tdpf18, boc26tni, ebers, ice24, boc26
Spain is Europe's main entry point for Moroccan hashish and also a growerThe Interior Ministry reported state-force seizures of herbal cannabis. State security forces seized 257 tonnes of hashish in 2025, up 29% on 2024 but at the low end of the series:.[@int26] It compared this with 357 tonnes in 2023, 318 in 2022 and 672 in 2021. They also seized, and recorded 875,000 cannabis plants seized in 2025. The interior ministry says police[@int26] Police pressure on the coast hashad pushed traffickerssmugglers to alternate beach landings with lorries and other vehicles; speedboats used for smuggling were banned in 2018road transport, and supplying them with fuel at sea became a crime in 2026according to the ministry. The[@int26] These figures leave out seizures by theexclude regional police forcesseizures.[@int26]
The typical outcome for a user is a fine, not an arrest. In 2023An account of the state security forces imposedInterior Ministry’s 2023 yearbook reported 198,570 sanctions under the article of thefor public-security law that punishes using drug possession or holding drugs in public placesuse, which carries fines from 601 euros; they brought incollecting about €130 million euros, 74% of everything collected under that law and 21% more than in 2022. The figure covers[@ep24] This was an all drugs-drug total, thoughwithout a cannabis is the commonest-specific count. Another[@ep24] It also reported 109 sanctions were for growing plants incultivation visible to the public view. A reform agreed by the[@ep24] The governing parties agreed a lower-fine proposal in 2024 would cut, but the possession fine to between 100 and 500 eurosconsolidated statute still sets €601–30,000 for serious offences.[@ep24,boe]
ep24, boe
The medicines agency licenses a few companies for medical andAEMPS lists nine holders of research cultivation authorisations as of 31 July 2026, mostly for export; there is no adult-use production licensingincluding the Institute of Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology, Phytoplant Research and Trichome Pharma.[@tni,wikiaempslist] NoIts separate research programme,medical/scientific list also authorises Oils4Cure to grow for a clinical trial or published study was established by.[@aempslist] These are cultivation permissions; the retained sourceslist gives no trial outcome.[@aempslist]
tni, wikiaempslist
There areClub membership gives no legal shops for anyone. What exists isgeneral exemption from the tolerated network of private members' clubs, whichcriminal rules on supply.[@ebers] Associations are intended as closed associationsgroups rather than a lawful point of sale; nothing in the law gives a visitor a right to join or buy. Carrying or using cannabis in public bringsshops.[@tdpf18] Visitors face the same fine for a visitor as for a residentpublic-possession and public-use provisions, with fines from €601.[@boe]
tniebers, wikitdpf18, boe
BOE — Criminal Code, Organic Law 10/1995, consolidated April 2026 Spanish Agriculture Ministry — Information note on hemp cultivation AEMPS — Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances: cannabis cultivation AEMPS — Current cannabis cultivation authorisations, 31 July 2026 Spanish Constitutional Court — Judgment 146/2017, Ebers appeal BOE, 7 July 1940 — Decree of 28 June on organising and expanding hemp cultivation 15 unchanged
EUR
label Exclusively personal possession in private · treatment legal · note No statutory gram allowance; evidence of intended supply changes the case, label Unlawful possession in public or collective transport · treatment civil · fine min 601 · fine 30000 · term Articles 36.16 and 39 · note Confiscation possible; supply remains criminal
EUR
label Private cultivation exclusively for personal use · treatment legal · note No statutory plant cap; this does not authorise collective supply, label Unlawful cultivation visible to the public, where not criminal · treatment civil · fine min 601 · fine 30000 · term Articles 36.18 and 39, label Cultivation for cannabis supply — ordinary offence · treatment criminal · term Criminal Code Article 368 · prison min 1 year · prison 3 years · note Plus a fine of one to twice the drug’s value; aggravated cases carry higher penalties
label Cannabis supply outside the narrow shared-consumption exception · treatment criminal · term Criminal Code Article 368 · prison min 1 year · prison 3 years · note Plus a fine of one to twice the drug’s value; aggravated cases carry higher penalties
EUR
label Private personal consumption · treatment legal, label Public consumption or use on collective transport · treatment civil · fine min 601 · fine 30000 · term Articles 36.16 and 39
strict
Industrial cultivation for fibre, grain or seed can proceed without prior AEMPS authorisation when the agricultural conditions are met: certified seed from eligible varieties and THC no higher than 0.3%.[@hempmapa] Harvesting flowers is outside that exception; low THC alone does not remove the medicines agency’s cultivation controls.[@aempsgrow] Spain also has an older fibre-hemp history: a [1940 decree](/history/spain-hemp-production-decree-1940/) regulated production, movement and prices while directing support for growers.[@hemp40]
hempmapa, aempsgrow, hemp40
Spain’s [cannabis social clubs](/culture/traditions/cannabis-social-clubs/) built a collective, non-profit supply model around membership and shared cultivation.[@tdpf18] Members pay production costs and associations use internal rules to limit distribution and contact with outsiders.[@tdpf18] The [2001 history entry](/history/spain-social-clubs-2001/) marks the model’s emergence, although its continuing legal exposure differs from countries that later wrote clubs into law.[@tdpf18,tni]
tdpf18, tni