{"id":5154,"date":"2026-10-08T11:42:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marisana.es\/events-and-publications-promoting-the-normalization-of-cannabis-in-spain\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T11:54:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:54:25","slug":"events-and-publications-promoting-the-normalization-of-cannabis-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marisana.es\/en\/events-and-publications-promoting-the-normalization-of-cannabis-in-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Events and publications promoting the normalization of cannabis in Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Spain:<\/h5>\n
Cannabis culture in Spain has been disseminated and normalized through public events and specialized publications that have accompanied the activism. Since 1997, C\u00e1\u00f1amo<\/em><\/strong><\/a> magazine has been the leading anti-prohibitionist voice, helping shape public opinion in favor of home cultivation and bringing the cannabis community together.<\/h5>\n
Other magazines subsequently emerged, such as Yerba<\/em><\/strong> (2001), Soft Secrets<\/em><\/strong> (Spanish edition, 2003), and Cannabis Magazine<\/em><\/strong> (formerly known as Spannabis Magazine<\/em>). These publications helped normalize the language surrounding cannabis, presenting it first as another element of counterculture and later as part of a lifestyle.<\/h5>\n
Today, many of these publications have moved online. Specialized publications helped create an informed counterculture supportive of cannabis.<\/h5>\n

\"Spannabis<\/p>\n

Spannabis<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, the Barcelona Hemp Fair, held its first edition in 2002. Over the years, it became the largest cannabis industry event in Europe, attracting thousands of international visitors. Spannabis (as well as other fairs such as Expocannabis<\/em><\/strong> in Madrid) has helped showcase the economic and cultural dimensions of cannabis, featuring stands from seed banks, vaporizer manufacturers, fertilizer companies, and other industry-related businesses.<\/h5>\n
These fairs have professionalized the image of the cannabis sector and given it greater business credibility, contributing to its social normalization.<\/h5>\n
Since the late 1990s, cannabis flower competitions and local cannabis cups have been held in Spain, organized by various associations. The Madrid Marijuana Cup (organized by the Madrid Association for Cannabis Studies, AMEC<\/strong>) was among the first. Later, similar competitions were held in Catalonia, Valencia, the Basque Country, Andalusia, and other regions.<\/h5>\n

Festivals and Activist Celebrations<\/strong><\/h2>\n
These events brought the growing community together and provided opportunities for growers to interact with medical cannabis users. Celebrations such as the \u201cSan Canuto<\/strong>\u201d festival (the secular patron saint of smokers, held every January 19) also became established.<\/h5>\n
The first documented San Canuto celebration took place in 1979 at the University of Deusto in Bilbao\u2014an outrageous event at the time\u2014and during the 1990s the festival subsequently became popular on university campuses in Madrid, Vigo, Barcelona, Seville, Alicante, and other cities.<\/h5>\n
These recreational gatherings, somewhere between ritual and protest, brought cannabis use out of the private sphere and gave it a festive public presence, helping to reduce stigma. The Global Marijuana March (MMM)<\/strong> takes place in cities around the world on the first Saturday of May. In Spain, in addition to Madrid (where it has been held since 1997), Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, and other cities also organize their own local marches around this time.<\/h5>\n
On certain occasions, public smoking demonstrations have been held in front of town halls, along with rallies in support of activists facing trial. For almost 30 years, marches have been held in Madrid, initially attracting a few hundred participants and, more recently, drawing several thousand people.<\/h5>\n
These demonstrations have been crucial in generating media coverage and keeping the demand for reform alive in the public sphere, even when political agendas have left little room for it.<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"La<\/div><\/div>
The Global Marijuana March (GMM) is held in cities around the world on the first Saturday of May.<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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These demonstrations have been crucial for generating media coverage and keeping the cause alive in the public sphere.\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Changing Media Coverage of Cannabis<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Over time, mainstream newspapers and television also began to give greater coverage to the issue. Reports in El Pa\u00eds<\/strong> (particularly from 2014 onwards, when Uruguay legalized cannabis), articles in eldiario.es<\/strong>, and television documentaries brought the reality of cannabis to a wider audience in a more objective way.<\/h5>\n
While sensationalist reports about police raids and drug seizures predominated in the 1990s, over the past decade media outlets have increasingly published pieces that showed the inside of cannabis clubs, interviewed patients who use medical cannabis, or discussed regulation by comparing international models.<\/h5>\n
This evolution in media coverage is itself an indicator of normalization: cannabis has gone from being a taboo subject to being discussed as a legitimate matter of public policy. Public events brought cannabis culture into the streets, challenging the stereotype of the \u201cdrug addict\u201d with the reality of socially integrated consumers.<\/h5>\n
The synergy between activism, celebrations, and cultural dissemination has been key to ensuring that cannabis can now be discussed openly and based on data in Spain, helping to pave the way for legal changes that would have seemed unthinkable decades ago.<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cannabis culture in Spain has been disseminated and normalized through public events and specialized publications that have accompanied the activism. Since 1997, C\u00e1\u00f1amo magazine has been the leading anti-prohibitionist voice, helping shape public opinion in favor of home cultivation and … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t