1.Cannabis Clubs in Barcelona are private, not public
Don’t confuse a cannabis club in Barcelona for a coffee shop in Amsterdam; they’re not at all the same thing. Amsterdam’s coffee shops are public and are open to anyone at any time. Barcelona’s cannabis clubs, on the other hand, are only open to new members via referrals through existing members. These policies result in striking differences between the two:
*Amsterdam’s coffee shops feel like you’re hanging out at a pub or bar
*Barcelona’s cannabis clubs feel like you’re hanging out in your own living room
If you join a cannabis social club, you can trust that your information will remain private. You won’t receive marked mail from the club, they won’t sell, give away or provide your information to anyone else, and the club won’t spam you with advertisements or offers. Why? Because it’s all private, not public.
2. You Need an ID and register to Get a Membership
In order to get a membership at a cannabis club you must present a valid passport, ID or NIE card. You must also register using an address in Spain; however, hotel addresses are perfectly acceptable at most clubs.
Additionally, some clubs require members to be 21 years old or older, while others accept new members as young as 18.
3. You Don’t “Buy” Weed from Barcelona’s Cannabis Clubs
When you become a member of a cannabis club in Barcelona, you are essentially part of a coalition that grows and distributes marijuana among its members.As a member, you have a share in the marijuana grown. To cover the expenses of growing the marijuana, paying for the building and other facilities, and utilities, you need to contribute your share. We generally split these costs among all members.
This means that you’re not buying weed when you go to a smoking club. You’re simply acquiring your share of what you and other members have grown. Therefore, it is considered rude to talk about “buying weed,” and if you do so while at a club you’ll probably be corrected abruptly.
4. You can Still Get in Trouble for Smoking Marijuana in Barcelona
Just because you can get weed legally in Barcelona doesn’t mean you can be flippant about it. Spanish law is very liberal in private spaces. Therefore, it’s okay to have some marijuana in your own home, or in a private club. If you are caught displaying or using marijuana in a public place, you can expect to be fined and have the marijuana confiscated. Depending on the situation, you may also face arrest and jail time.
Be smart. Just because you see people smoking joints on La Rambla doesn’t mean you should too. In fact, the truth of the matter is that outside of a private residence or a club, you could be harassed and ticketed by police. If you take cannabis out of a club (most people do) then please remember to transport it in your undergarments. Spanish authorities cannot search there without a warrant.
If you’re caught with weed in public, you’ll receive a ticket and have to pay a fine. However, unless you have more than the allowed amount, you won’t face any criminal charges. Most cannabis club members never reach this threshold.
5. Most Cannabis Clubs Charge a Yearly Membership Fee
You’ll pay your fair share for the effort required to grow your marijuana and house you in a number of ways. First, nearly every club requires a yearly membership fee. This is generally 20 Euro, but can be as low as 10 Euro and as high as 30 Euro. Some clubs give membership away for free, but this is rare and often comes at a price – poor service, cruddy environment, terrible weed, etc.
It is not appropriate to negotiate or attempt to have the fee waived, even if you are only staying in Barcelona for a day or two. We are all members, we all need to support each other and these small fees are how we pull together to do this. You’ll also pay a set amount per gram for different marijuana strains and hash, and for any other products or services offered by the club.
Additionally, you may want to bring a friend or family member with you to the club who doesn’t smoke, but still wants to see what it’s like. This is completely acceptable, but this person must still register for membership to be able to enter the club, in keeping with the private nature of the clubs which is necessary for their existence.
6. Not All Marijuana at Cannabis Clubs in BCN is grown by the Club
Some clubs can’t afford the space, equipment and services required to grow fine quality marijuana. Instead, they resort to acquiring it via other means. In some cases this may involve getting weed from other clubs, or it may require cooperation with large growers out in the Spanish countryside. There are also some clubs that get their marijuana from the guys that sell it down on the beach.
Where the club acquires its cannabis may not matter to you, but it definitely does to me. After all, if I wanted street marijuana, I’d just go get it from the street guys directly and at a much better price.
7. Not All of Barcelona’s Smoking Clubs are Created Equal
The differences from one club to the next are astounding. There are huge clubs that span three floors of a major building, and there are clubs that are nothing more than one small room with a couple of cheap chairs. There are clubs that are located in dark basements, and clubs that are in bright new spaces. Some are themed, some are not. Some are fancy, some are dingy.
Whatever type of environment you’re looking for, chances are that you can find it at a cannabis club in Barcelona. In fact, there’s even a gay cannabis club in the city, but I’ve never been able to get much information on it.
What I’ve found is that most people who are regulars at Barcelona’s cannabis clubs have memberships to multiple clubs – usually at least 5 or 6 – and frequent them all for different reasons.
8. Cannabis Clubs in Spain Cannot Advertise Publicly
Because Spain’s cannabis clubs are private, members-only organizations, they cannot publicly advertise. This may be why so few people are aware of what’s really going on in Barcelona, how prevalent the cannabis clubs are, and that membership is available even to foreigners.
If you see that a club is advertising publicly, such as someone hands out fliers or other literature or advertisements on the street, then you probably should not go to that particular club. After all, doing business with a cannabis club that’s breaking the rules is self-defeating when lawmakers in Barcelona and Spain overall still haven’t really made their minds up about cannabis clubs just yet.
If someone approaches you on the street and asks you to join a cannabis club, be cautious. This may not be a legitimate opportunity. Professional clubs do not send promoters out into the streets to recruit new members – they don’t need to, and it’s against the law anyway.Watch out for the sketchy individuals who advertise clubs on Las Ramblas and the surrounding popular plazas. These are not the kind of people you want to associate with.
9 There are Legal Limits to How Much Marijuana you Can Acquire
This is important; there are limits to how much weed you can purchase per month in Spain. Between 20g(0.7oz) and 80 grams(2.82oz). When you register at a cannabis club, you will be provided with information about what the limits are, and you’ll sign a form stating you’ve read this information.
You’ll be asked on the forms how many grams per week you will acquire from the club. This is not a commitment; it is merely an estimate to ensure you stay within the legal limits. I usually write that I’ll acquire around 8 grams per week, or up to 40 per month.
10. Regulations for Cannabis Clubs in Barcelona are on the Way
There are close to 300 cannabis clubs in Barcelona, and they’ve all been operating under what are often confusing statutes and gray areas that make it difficult to be certain that they’re doing the right thing. Legislators have been working hard to develop a set of standards for Barcelona’s cannabis clubs to follow. Some of these standards are being implemented immediately, while others will be implemented systematically in the future.
This means that we can expect at least some changes to the way cannabis clubs operate in the coming months, so it’s important to stay abreast of these changes in case any of them present risk or potential problems for you, whether you’re a Catalonian or not.