The experiences with regulating cannabis markets in Uruguay, some states in the United States, and Canada have become authentic social laboratories to which the rest of the world looks for answers, solutions, and inspiration.

Currently, dozens of countries on all continents have medical cannabis programs. In the European context, for example, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Italy. Also in Israel, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand. A list that grows year after year.

In 1996, the state of California approved the legalization of medical cannabis in a referendum. In the following years, Canada and the Netherlands followed suit in 2001. Israel launched its medical cannabis program in 2007.

Initially, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the United Nations agency responsible for ensuring the proper implementation of the international drug treaties, was quick to react. The Board criticized these countries for violating the principles of the treaties, even though they allow for medical and scientific uses of controlled substances.

Despite this, other countries and territories gradually adopted medicinal regulations, considering that alleviating the suffering of people who use cannabis to alleviate their ailments does not constitute a violation of international drug conventions, but rather guarantees universally recognized human rights, such as the right to health and the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

This led the INCB to acknowledge the evidence in 2014 and establish, in its Annual Report of that year, that “the Single Convention allows States Parties to use cannabis for medical purposes.”

Only under medical prescription

The criteria that states wishing to implement medical cannabis programs must meet while still complying with international standards are essentially two:

• First, the government must establish an office responsible for the control and distribution of cannabis.

• Second, such cannabis can only be acquired with a medical prescription, ensuring that it cannot be diverted to the illicit market.

The INCB expressly prohibits the cultivation of cannabis for personal medical use, stating that this would pose a high risk that those who cultivate it for medical reasons could divert it to the illicit market or facilitate access to it by third parties.

There are many notable aspects of the various medical cannabis programs available around the world. Perhaps the most exemplary examples are those of the Netherlands and Israel.

Israel also offers a wide variety of cannabis products, including various oils made from the plant. Furthermore, thanks to its medical cannabis program, the country has become a world leader in medical cannabis research.

More and more research concludes that many patients are replacing their treatments with anti-anxiety, antidepressant, or painkiller medications with the use of cannabis.

Among the most recent advances is the first documentation of the benefits of cannabis for the treatment of childhood autism. In Israel, the use of cannabis is also permitted in nursing homes, where its beneficial effects have been observed in elderly people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.

Medicinal cannabis programs are also proving beneficial in terms of public health: growing research concludes that many patients are replacing their treatments with anti-anxiety, antidepressant, and painkiller medications with cannabis.

When will there be a medicinal cannabis program in Spain?

In Spain, associations of medical cannabis patients and their families and caregivers have been demanding this for several years. The Union of Patients for the Regulation of Cannabis (UPRC) and the Spanish Observatory of Medicinal Cannabis (OECM) have managed to bring these demands to the political class.

Non-legislative proposals on this issue have been registered in some regional parliaments and in the Congress of Deputies. Thus, in its commitment to reforming cannabis policy in Spain, Podemos, integrated into the Mixed Group, has registered a significant legislative proposal in the Congress of Deputies that goes a little further: the Bill for the Comprehensive Regulation and Control of Cannabis in Adults.

This initiative, which was already proposed in the previous legislature but was put on hold due to the early call for elections, has been revived by Podemos now that the party has regained its ability to introduce legislation by joining the mixed group.

But for the moment, there doesn't seem to be sufficient political consensus, either among the political class or the medical community, and no significant progress has been made toward its approval. However, the debate is increasingly present in society and the media.

The choice between medicinal regulation or comprehensive regulation of cannabis is obviously a political decision. A complex one, given the obvious risk of regulating only a certain use of cannabis, leaving others underground.

Analyzing progress in other countries is key, and even more so regulating in a manner consistent with the needs and characteristics of our own society. In Spain, recreational use is widespread and normalized. Furthermore, there is a large group of people who use cannabis medicinally. Successful regulation must take these realities into account.

Legislation must also be based on civil society proposals in this area. The ground is fertile; all that's missing is the political will. Will the current Spanish government, still led by left-wing forces, have it?