Manifesto of the Third Way
For a responsible regulation of hemp flowers and the specialized retail channel in Spain
Not black market. Not monopoly. Not pharmacies.
Spain is not debating an oddity
It is debating how to regulate an adult reality that already exists.
13.8M
have consumed cannabis at some point
EDADES 2024
3.3M
monthly consumers
Ministry of Health
880K
daily consumption
EDADES 2024
4,000
years of hemp history in the Iberian Peninsula
Neolithic sites
According to official data (EDADES 2024, Ministry of Health), 13.8 million Spaniards have consumed cannabis at some point in their lives (43.7% of the population aged 15 to 64, an all-time high). 3.3 million consume it monthly. 880,000 do so daily. Spain leads Europe in cannabis consumption according to the EUDA and SCORE wastewater analyses.
The problem is not whether demand exists. The problem is that the State continues to leave that space between legal limbo, the illicit market, and insecurity for consumers and businesses.
Hemp has been part of the Iberian Peninsula's history for over 4,000 years — from the Neolithic sites of Abrigo de los Carboneros in Murcia and Coll de Moro in Tarragona, through the rigging of Christopher Columbus's caravels, to the 19th-century apothecaries where cannabis preparations were freely dispensed.
AECANI advocates a third way: taking low-THC hemp flowers out of legal limbo without pushing them into the black market, the tobacco commercial monopoly, or improper medicalization. Responsible regulation, specialized retail channel, and clear rules.
An adult, agricultural, traceable and non-narcotic product
We defend that low-THC hemp flower is an adult, agricultural, traceable and non-narcotic product that deserves its own proportionate and stable framework. It must not be confused with either the illicit narcotic or a medication by default.
“We are not asking to legalize drugs. We are asking to reclaim the plant.”
Existing regulatory framework
Immediate fit within the herbal smoking products framework (Directive 2014/40/EU and RD 579/2017), with prior notification, labeling, warnings, quality control, and effective minor protection.
Principle of honesty
We will not sell smoke as if it were medicine. The WHO concluded that pure CBD shows no signs of abuse or dependence nor relevant public health problems. This supports proportionate and sensible regulation, not irresponsible propaganda.
Cannabis as nature designed it
In the 1970s, cannabis seized by the DEA contained 1% THC. Today, the black market offers varieties with up to 30%. This escalation is a direct result of prohibition. CBD flowers (<1% THC) represent cannabis as nature designed it.
Because every legal vacuum is filled by another actor
Clandestinity, arbitrariness, and opportunism.
€2.138B
illicit annual market
The market the State doesn't see
According to Cannamonitor (2024), the illicit cannabis market in Spain exceeds 2.138 billion euros annually. Over 500 tonnes of flower and resin are consumed outside any control. Flower seizures have multiplied by 10 in a decade.
89%
mix it with tobacco
The tobacco trap
89% of cannabis consumers in Spain mix it with tobacco (Cannamonitor/OEDA). The Spanish joint is, above all, a machine for creating nicotine addicts. Regulated hemp flower is a transitional tool toward adult consumption less tied to nicotine.
Evidence that dismantles fear
The main argument against regulation is that it will increase consumption. International evidence shows the opposite:
Germany (2017–2025): medical cannabis prescriptions multiplied by 240 (from 27,000 to 6.5 million). Yet THC-COOH levels in wastewater remained stable for 9 years (EUDA/SCORE). No new consumers were created.
Switzerland (FOPH, 2019): the Federal Office of Public Health surveyed 1,500 CBD flower users. 56.3% reduced their illegal cannabis consumption. Only 4.1% reported an increase.
Basel, Weed Care (Addiction, 2025): the world's first RCT on regulated access vs. black market. Legal access reduced problematic consumption, did not increase prevalence, and significantly reduced mixing joints with tobacco.
The center of this manifesto is not a molecule. It is the channel.
The specialized store is the only point of sale consistent with an adult policy of information, traceability, age verification, and harm reduction.
No to the tobacco-shop monopoly
AECANI does not oppose tobacco shops being one of the sales channels, but it opposes the monopoly. The CNMC has warned about the spillover effect: extending the tobacco monopoly to hemp flower would drag the product into the same restrictive tobacco regime, eliminating competition and specialization. Yes to a plural market; no to a single channel that would suffocate the existing specialized stores.
Not pharmacies
Medicine must follow the medicine track. But not every product with CBD is or should be a drug. Indiscriminate medicalization does not protect the consumer: it displaces, makes it more expensive, and confuses them.
Yes to specialized stores and age-verified online sale
There are already ~700 specialized stores in Spain, more than 2,600 direct jobs, and more than 270 companies (Cannamonitor, 2025). The channel exists — regulate it, don't eliminate it. Together with online sale subject to robust age verification, it guarantees informed adult access and end-to-end traceability.
~700
specialized stores
2,600+
direct jobs
270+
sector companies
AECANI proposes license limitation. We don't want a free-for-all. Not supermarkets, not gas stations. Licensed stores, with requirements, with responsibility.
Data that demands a legitimate question
The following data is not a provocation. It is official data from the Ministry of Health, the WHO, the EUDA, and the National Institute of Toxicology.
Is it proportionate to criminalize a plant that has never killed anyone while freely regulating a substance that kills 14,000 people a year?
The reference to Dr. Donald Tashkin (UCLA) is not coincidental. His studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of the American Thoracic Society, and Chest, with over 5,000 subjects over 30 years and funded by the U.S. government (NIDA), demonstrated that cannabis smoked alone does not cause lung cancer or COPD.
Seven concrete demands
Clear recognition
Of low-THC hemp flower as a differentiated category within the European hemp framework.
Immediate regulatory fit
Within the herbal smoking products regime (Directive 2014/40/EU, RD 579/2017), with all controls: notification, labeling, warnings, traceability.
Specialized channels with age verification
Authorized specialized stores and online sales with robust age verification as the backbone of the system. No to the tobacco-shop monopoly —which triggers the spillover effect warned about by the CNMC—; yes to a plural market, without supermarkets or gas stations.
Strict regime
Of analysis, labeling, traceability, and documentary control from seed to final sale.
Express prohibition
Of unauthorized medical claims and zero tolerance for synthetic cannabinoids, adulterations, or deceptive practices.
Coherent THC threshold
With agronomic reality and the European framework: minimum 0.3% (current CAP), open to technical discussion on 0.5–1% (Gibson et al. 2022, Egloff et al. 2023, future CAP 2027).
Hemp Roundtable
A permanent space for dialogue between government, industry, scientists, and legal practitioners.
What we do not ask for
We do not ask to trivialize consumption.
We do not ask to sell to minors.
We do not ask for aggressive advertising.
We do not ask for covert therapeutic claims.
We do not ask to place hemp flower in the tobacco ecosystem.
We do not ask to hide it behind the pharmacy counter.
We do not ask for the absence of control.
We ask for exactly the opposite: clear rules, clear responsibilities, and a visible market.
As a sector, we commit to
Professionalization
Laboratory analysis, staff training, documentary compliance, truthful labeling, cooperation with authorities.
Clear separation of debates
Flowers for smoking (urgent, this Manifesto), CBD extracts / Novel Food (via EIHA, separate timeline), and medical cannabis (RD 903/2025, separate track). Do not mix.
Coordinated European position
Alignment with EIHA and European industry associations for harmonized regulation.
Adult and informed consumption
Active defense of adult, informed consumption, separated from nicotine.
Whole-plant hemp
Promotion of whole-plant hemp: textile fiber, construction, food (plant protein), carbon capture. Beyond CBD.
AECANI does not give up on the future
Recent clinical evidence on cannabinoids and alcohol consumption is promising:
Brown University (Am J Psychiatry, 2025): first RCT in history, reduction of alcohol consumption between 19–27% and delay in onset of drinking by 48%.
Canadian program (Addiction, 2025): each additional joint was associated with 2.43 fewer daily alcoholic drinks.
Cannabis beverages (J Psychoactive Drugs, 2026): weekly alcohol consumption cut in half (from 7.02 to 3.35 weekly drinks).
But this evidence is still preliminary. This debate must be opened with rigor, without opportunism, and without contaminating the immediate battle for hemp flower and the specialized channel.
Regulating hemp flowers is not losing control. It is regaining it.
It is separating hemp from drug trafficking.
It is separating the adult ritual from tobacco.
It is protecting consumers with traceability and standards.
It is allowing a responsible business sector to operate within the law.
Not black market. Not monopoly. Not pharmacies.
Specialized retail, responsible regulation, and an industrial future for hemp in Spain.
AECANI — Spanish Association of Industrial Hemp
April 2026, Barcelona
Sources and References
EDADES 2024, Ministry of Health
CIS, Barometer April 2021
Cannamonitor 2024 and 2025
EUDA/SCORE 2024–2025
WHO: Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health, 2024
Alcohol Monograph 2024 OEDA/DGPNSD
Tashkin, D.P. (2013) Annals ATS
Tashkin, D.P. (2018) Chest
Wu & Tashkin (1988) N Engl J Med
Hashibe & Tashkin (2006) Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers
Metrik, J. et al. (2025) Am J Psychiatry
Addiction Suisse (2019) Report No. 97 (FOPH)
Weed Care Basel (2025) Addiction
Gibson et al. (2022) / Egloff et al. (2023)
CNMC: tobacco channel competition reports
Kanavape (C-663/18) CJEU 2020
COM(2025) 553
RD 579/2017
Regulation EU 2021/2115 (CAP)
Single Convention 1961, Art. 28.2