Glass
2nd March 2012, 07:29 AM
Giant marijuana crop the fix for Spanish town high on debt
A TINY Spanish country town believes it has found a way to make unemployment, debt and economic crisis disappear in a puff of smoke - by leasing out its land for marijuana plantations.
The town hall of Rasquera in Catalonia has voted to sign a €1.3 million ($A1.6 million) agreement with a cannabis users' association in nearby Barcelona to plant marijuana for its 5000 members.
It will allow the association to plant on a seven-hectare stretch of town hall land - roughly the size of 10 football pitches. ''This is a chance to bring in money and create jobs,'' said mayor Bernat Pellisa, of the Catalan Republican Left party, as older townsfolk worried he was turning Rasquera into a drugs mecca.
Mr Pellisa said he had sought legal advice that the scheme, part of a set of ''anti-crisis'' measures passed at a packed town hall meeting, did not break Spain's ambiguous cannabis laws.
''The produce will only go to members of the association and it won't all be cannabis,'' he said. ''There will be crop rotation with cereal and sugar beet.''
The Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Association, part of a growing movement of private marijuana clubs in Spain, will pay the town €650,000 a year for the right to grow its annual supply there.
''Growing for oneself is not illegal, but this is a delicate issue,'' lawyer Oriol Casals said.
Full story @ the Age (http://www.theage.com.au/world/giant-marijuana-crop-the-fix-for-spanish-town-high-on-debt-20120302-1u8gx.html)
interesting idea. I wonder about these users associations.
A TINY Spanish country town believes it has found a way to make unemployment, debt and economic crisis disappear in a puff of smoke - by leasing out its land for marijuana plantations.
The town hall of Rasquera in Catalonia has voted to sign a €1.3 million ($A1.6 million) agreement with a cannabis users' association in nearby Barcelona to plant marijuana for its 5000 members.
It will allow the association to plant on a seven-hectare stretch of town hall land - roughly the size of 10 football pitches. ''This is a chance to bring in money and create jobs,'' said mayor Bernat Pellisa, of the Catalan Republican Left party, as older townsfolk worried he was turning Rasquera into a drugs mecca.
Mr Pellisa said he had sought legal advice that the scheme, part of a set of ''anti-crisis'' measures passed at a packed town hall meeting, did not break Spain's ambiguous cannabis laws.
''The produce will only go to members of the association and it won't all be cannabis,'' he said. ''There will be crop rotation with cereal and sugar beet.''
The Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Association, part of a growing movement of private marijuana clubs in Spain, will pay the town €650,000 a year for the right to grow its annual supply there.
''Growing for oneself is not illegal, but this is a delicate issue,'' lawyer Oriol Casals said.
Full story @ the Age (http://www.theage.com.au/world/giant-marijuana-crop-the-fix-for-spanish-town-high-on-debt-20120302-1u8gx.html)
interesting idea. I wonder about these users associations.