In Spain, the pressure continues to rise, supported by the nearly seven million consumers, 12.6% of the population between 15 and 64 years old, who consume cannabis in our country. These figures keep our hope alive that the comprehensive regulation of cannabis may be getting closer to becoming a reality.

Compared to the previous study already published on our BLOG, the average percentage of the consumer population rises from 7% to 12.6%, increasing by nearly three million more consumers.

The map of national consumption generally maintains the same behavioral pattern, with peaks of consumers in the Mediterranean arc:

• Baleares: With 14.9% and an increase of 4.1% compared to the previous study.

• The Valencian Community: With 14.2% and an increase of 3.3% compared to the previous study.

• Catalonia: With 14.3% and a very significant increase of 5.6% compared to the previous study.

• The Region of Murcia: With 12.5% and an increase of 5.2% compared to the previous statistics.

As we can see, the new study shows increases in the prevalence of consumption in almost all Autonomous Communities, highlighting above all the strong rise (18.5% more) observed in Extremadura, which with 23.1% now occupies the top position in the ranking by a wide margin.

Special mention should be made of Madrid, which with 9.7% and an increase of only 1.3% compared to the previous study, is one of the Autonomous Communities where this growth is most contained and modest.

In the following table we can see the statistical percentages (%) broken down by Communities and by gender: men and women, with the first row showing the total and the national average, which is 12.6%.

Consumo Cannabis	Ambos sexos	Mujeres	Hombres
España	12,6	9,2	16
Andalucía	10	7,2	12,8
Aragón	15,6	12,9	18,3
Asturias, Principado	14,5	10,3	18,7
Balears, Illes	14,9	10,9	18,8
Canarias	16,1	11,5	20,7
Cantabria	13,8	9,9	17,6
Castilla y León	10,9	9,3	12,4
Castilla-La Mancha	10,5	7,5	13,4
Cataluña	14,3	10	18,4
Comunitat Valenciana	14,2	9,8	18,5
Extremadura	23,1	18,7	27,3
Galicia	13	11,7	14,4
Madrid, Comunidad de	9,7	6,9	12,6
Murcia, Región de	12,5	8,7	16,2
Navarra, C. Foral de	10,8	8,2	13,4
País Vasco	14,1	9,2	19
Rioja, La	13,7	10,2	17,3
Ceuta	8,2	4,6	11,6
Melilla	9,4	8	10,7

Communities below the national average

The new statistics, like the previous ones, also continue to break certain preconceived ideas, such as the assumption that geographical proximity to North Africa makes consumption more common and hypothetically leads to a higher rate of cannabis buyers.

Thus, the following are below the national average of 12.6%:

• Andalusia: With 10% (7% in the previous study)

• Ceuta: With 8.2% (6.4% in the previous study), which becomes the community with the lowest percentage in all of Spain, dethroning Melilla, which previously occupied that position.

• And Melilla: With 9.4% (3% in the previous study), now occupying the second-lowest position in terms of consumption.

As we can observe, the Communities closest to Morocco—which is, in principle, where most of the hash consumed in Spain comes from—are all below the country’s average consumption rate, with two of them taking the last and third-to-last positions in the national ranking.

It is also worth highlighting that the statistics continue to show that cannabis use is more common among men than women, and among younger people than older ones, differences that become more pronounced with age.

Thus, based on the national total percentages of consumers, men represent 16% while women represent only 9.2%. In short, a difference of 6.8% more in the case of men. So ladies, as we said in our previous Blog article, let’s see if you step it up a bit 😊

Finally, in light of these new consumption data, one might wonder what Spain’s situation is compared to the rest of the neighboring countries of the European Union? A question that we will try to answer fully in an upcoming article on our blog.