It blows my mind to realize I have people listening to me from all around the world. I just received this email from Spain from an author who has read my post on Portugal’s decriminalization of drugs.
I hear you speak lately about Portugal and their cannabis decriminalization
But Portugal it’s not better than Spain in this aspect, as Spain, they still charge fines for cannabis possesion.
In fact, we are far more advance that Portugal on this, in Spain the cannabis consumption it’s also decriminalize since a long time ago, even home cultivation of cannabis (to a certain plants quantity limits of course)
I quote the wikipedia entries about this:
Portugal:
Personal consumption limit is 2.5 gram per day of marijuana[citation needed] and 0.5 gram per day[citation needed] of hashish. One may possess not more than 10 daily doses, otherwise it may be categorized as trafficking. Consumption still has a penalty that may be a fine or other penalty. Cultivation, even if for personal use, is still totally illegal and cultivation of even one plant is assumed to indicate involvement with trafficking. Possession of seeds is also illegal and despite there being several “head shops” or “grow shops” in Portugal, they are not allowed to sell seeds. It is also true that the number of grow shops has increased over the past few years, which seems to indicate that cultivation for personal use (in Portuguese: auto-cultivo) is becoming a more common practice. There is also a forum, named hortadacouve, formed by people who cultivate for personal use.It is very common in Portugal to see young people smoking in concerts and other party areas. There has also been, in the last decade, an increase of cafés where it is possible to smoke, although it is never an “open” experience, because there is still a lot of intolerance to public consumption of cannabis as a day to day practice.
The 2006 Global Marijuana March (Portuguese: Marcha Global da Marijuana) was celebrated for the first time in Lisbon and in 2007 both Lisbon and Porto celebrated it.
Spain:
Personal consumption and home cultivation of cannabis have been decriminalized. Buying or selling remains a criminal offense, as well consumption or possession in public areas. Therapeutic use is allowed and is regulated by hospital prescription.Please do not forget about Spain efforts in favor of legalization.
Greetings from a spanish fan of your great and informative Daily Audio Stash, wich I listen almost every program.
Pedro Gonzalez Mesto
¡Gracias, Pedro!
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@courty
in portugal, lisbon
did you find decent people to hook up with?
I’m going there soon…
I can just say that what happened to is an exception, i have smoked with cops, been busted by cops more than once and the worst they did was throw my stash away (once).
From my personal experience they just smile at you and keep on with their lives, sometimes tease you a little.
Well if you are in a totally public place with where people pass through all the time they might go to you say
“have some respect, go over there” but nothing more…
But that’s my personal experience, i have a friend that was carrying a huge amount, so big that had to be split by the group he was with IN FRONT OF THE POLICE (and the cops were laughing their asses off while they did it xD) and yeah, he went to the psychologist, who just said “i can see you’re a normal person, you’re not making a fuss anywhere, just get on with your live”
But again, this is just MY EXPERIENCE, and of course it all depends on the cops that bust you and how you play your cards in the situation… Ah cops…
sitting in lissabon atm, I am reading this for the first time.
I just know that they sell TEA (as weed) and shoe WAX (as hash) in the old town centre.
BEWARE!
where are the places to get weed in portugal. we are holidaying there soon and need a spliff.
Hey there everyone,
I’m also from Portugal and I am a casual/regular smoker (depends if I have work to do or not), in other words, I smoke responsibly.
Legislation in Spain and Portugal are really not different.
Smoking is tolerated in some places such as music festivals or when ur out at night (Bairro Alto), but it is penalised if you do it, let’s say outside a shopping mall where more people can be affected (or feel like they’ve been violated in some sort of way).
It is more a matter of social acceptance than law. You just have to know when and where to do it.
It is just like alcohol. Would you normally get wasted outside a museum? Or hospitals? At 2pm? If getting drunk at noon in the town square is not socially accepted why would smoking cannabis be?
Also, as smokers or drinkers or whatever we shove down our throat, we should always respect the others around us.
Isn’t it much better waiting until about 7pm, sunset time, go down to the beach with ur mates, and spark one up? You wouldn’t be bothering anyone, and I guarantee that no police officer will come rushing to take your weed away.
Cultivation is still a crime in BOTH countries. No matter what the law says, i know people who got busted in Portugal and Spain for growing their own stuff, even tho it was purely for personal use. In the time that takes you to prove that it was for your exclusive use, they’ll burn your plants down and confiscate the equipment.
And why are we even fighting about who’s better than who?I think Portugal and Spain should unite to get cannabis legalized. I’m currently living with spanish people in the UK (at uni) and you have no idea how lucky we are to be Iberos. If you knew what the cannbis panorama is like in the UK… It drives me mad, so much misleading “information” of “how cannabis is addictive” and stuff like that…
Hopefully one day the governments will see the light and accept another gift from mother nature.
While it may be decriminalized in Portugal, the police is, in my opinion, a lot more intolerable about it than in Spain.
Here it is normal for police to search you with no reason, simply because you may ‘look like a stoner’. In one of those searches they found 0.3g (a small spliff) and took me downtown because of that. They kept me there for about 3 hours and refused and were rude when I asked them to give me a justification because I was forced to skip some classes while I was there.
In adition, I was told I had to attend to the ‘Comission for the Disuassion of Toxicodependence’ (keep in my mind I only had one spliff, .3g), where I was going to speak to a psychologist and had my case studied. Luckily the psychologist was nice and was obviously on my side.
Still, it was completely unecessary and I wish they had been more tolerable and didn’t make such a deal about it.,..That’s Portugal for you…
That’s not true at all. I live in Spain and I can say home cultivation here it’s totally CRIMINALIZED.
Althrough, if you can prove in the court that the harvest is not for sale then you’re free of prison.
But anyway, every week there are a lot of home cultivations confiscations.
Hello,
I am from Portugal and I agree with Pedro, the cannabis scene in Spain is far more advanced.
Yes, Portugal decriminalized public consuption and possession of small amounts but still criminalizes cultivation even if it’s exclusively for personal use (though in that case the penaltys are much lower than for trafficking). Yet Spain is much more smoker friendly, the public awareness is much more favorable and smoking in public cafes and bars is much more natural and tolerated. In Portugal the owner of a cafe or bar can be criminaly prosecuted and the place shutdown if drugs are found in the premisses, so it is rarely allowed by the owners for one to indulge along with the morning coffee or the afternoon beer. Some owners get really agressive and we understand why, they can get arrested for something others do and that they have no control of. This law is used by the authorities to shutdown places that “bother them”. The police simply raids the place as many times as necessary until they find someone with a few grams in their pocket. If this happens twice, legally they can shutdown the place. It’s plain and simple abuse of power.
It’s sad, I know severall bar owners that would be totally tolerant but can’t as they are too afraid to be shut down and arrested.
Yet some more private clubs (or crazy defiant owners :) allow you to smoke in their premisses and the casual blunt goes unnoticed almost anywhere as nobody uses them here. I smoke blunts unnoticed almost everywhere where tobbaco is allowed, so here’s a tip for the visiting stonner: Bring lots of blunts with you. :)
Spain is an example for all the world and we can all learn from their experience and boldness. Gracias hermanos. :)
Marco
Agreed. Spain and Italy arguably have far more progressive cannabis laws than Portugal — though they are almost never mentioned in the debate.