First serious Parliamentary debate over legalising cannabis for medicinal use
Tuesday, February 21, 2017 @ 9:55 PM
THE ongoing debate as to whether to legalise cannabis consumption for medicinal purposes has reached Parliament for the first time after centre-right party Ciudadanos presented a legislative proposal – a legal tool used by MPs to push for specific action from government leaders.
Although a legislative proposal does not oblige the government to take action, it serves as a 'loudspeaker' for hot topics being debated in society, and the fact it has been presented by the moderately conservative Ciudadanos means the issue is more likely to raise discussion in Parliament.
The party says it sought advice from the Spanish Observatory for Medicinal Cannabis, and recalled that several other European Union member States have already set the wheels in motion, including Germany, Italy, Finland and the Czech Republic, as well as 26 States in the USA and countries worldwide such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Israel, Uruguay, Chile and Colombia.
This motion comes just days after a 75-year-old woman was arrested and then released without charges in San Sebastián after 14 marijuana plants were found in her flat.
She explained that she mashed up the shrubs with surgical spirit and used the salve as a muscle-rub for herself and her husband to alleviate their aches and pains.
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