On the evening of 10 July 2014, dozens of riot-gear officers with guns drawn and drug-sniffing dogs stormed Club Kali, a quasi-legal cannabis club south of Barcelona, holding members at gunpoint for two hours.[1] Police seized all of the club’s marijuana products and arrested six people, the president, vice president, treasurer, doorman and two gardeners, on money laundering and public-health charges.[1] The next day police raided a second club, the Associacio Independent Recreativa de Autoconsum i Medicinal (AIRAM) in Barcelona.[1]
49 clubs ordered closed
The raids opened a months-long crackdown on Catalonia’s cannabis social clubs, non-profit collectives whose members pool resources to grow cannabis for personal use.[1] Their numbers had grown from about 40 in Catalonia in 2011 to more than 500 with over 165,000 members by 2014, earning Barcelona the nickname the Amsterdam of southern Europe.[1] On Wednesday 13 August 2014, Barcelona City Hall ordered 49 clubs closed after inspecting 145 premises, accusing some of selling cannabis illegally and luring tourists.[2] Dealing in cannabis is illegal in Spain, but growing for private consumption and non-profit smokers’ associations are allowed.[2] The Catalan federation of cannabis associations, CatFAC, appealed for dialogue with the authorities.[2]
