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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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European Cannabis Collective - 'Club Ganjazz', Spain.
Canna Zine Wednesday 20 Aug 2008 The members pay an amount to cover the expenses of cultivation and have the right to receive an amount for their own consumption. Each member obliges him/herself to only use the cannabis for their own consumption. This is a strict rule of membership which is rigidly adhered to. Welcome to the Cannabis Social Club or "European Cannabis Collective". All across Europe governments are making allowances for the small percentage of the population who wish to use cannabis. In the United Kingdom however, the Labour government is going the other way, by changing a law which is going to see as many as 10,000 MORE cannabis convictions per year, many of which will be young people just starting out in life. Should they be unfortunate enough to foul of the cannabis laws three times they could find themselves realistically facing a 14 year prison sentence, for doing no more than is happening in Spain, in Belgium and in Holland. Its time to stop the reclassification of cannabis from happening and we need your help to make it happen. Join us on the new Canna Zine cannabis forums and lend us your voice as well as your vote, and lets as a community, help force change. European parliaments and governments are still against the cultivation of cannabis for regulated trade, and any moves to go against this United Nations sanction is quickly acted against in the United Nations's halls of power. They believe that a commercial growing and distribution system is against the international conventions, that it supports exportation and drug tourism, that it would be available too easily and therefore lead towards more consumption especially among the youth. The United Nations also believes the hemp shops in Switzerland or the Dutch coffee shops would be too visible and too inviting and lead to critical comments by political opponents. The most reasonable solution would be the collectivization of the personal cultivation, by the formation of an association of growers/consumers, each member with as much to lose as the next by not strictly adhering to the rules. Non-commercial associations provide for the consumers who cannot, or don’t want to plant themselves. ENCOD, a European network of more than 150 NGO's (non-government organisations) intervening in world drug matters, is working on a model for the production and the distribution of cannabis for adults, which can be undertaken without any suggestion of "drug-dealing" and their working "blue-print is, the Cannabis Social Club (CSC). CSCs are non profit associations who organize the professional, collective cultivation of very limited amounts of cannabis, just enough to cover the personal needs of their club members. Cultivation, transport, distribution and consumption would have to be submitted to security and quality checks, and all this without publicity, shop signs or windows. The members finance this system by subscriptions according to their needs. Each member gets a value card with units, according to his credit with maximum limits for year and month. There would not be any dealing possible. The members are not allowed to sell any cannabis and must make sure that it isn’t consumed by minors and at face value it looks like a workable solution which could be used to take drug dealers out of the equation by keeping cannabis consumption, and hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin seperate. One of the first European cannabis social clubs was formed in the Basque country of Spain, and is called "Club Ganjazz". Ganjazz Art Club, San Sebastian, Spain Ganjazz Art Club is a Cannabis users association created in a little village near San Sebastián in the Basque Country, officially registered since 2002. Currently the club is composed of 200 members and at the moment is fully subscribed and unable to offer any new places, at least for this year. But every year, the club open's membership for around fifty new members, and every new member needs to fulfill conditions like: to be over 21 years, be a habitual user of cannabis, and not be in a detoxification process of any substance. Every new member has to be recognised by two current club members. The official seat for the club is in Lasarte Oria, in a typical basque house (Caserio) in the mountains named Adarra (15Km. from San Sebastian). We have an office in the center of San Sebastian , because most of our members live in San Sebastían. Most of our activities take place from that office, near the Kursaal Auditorium. Ganjazz is a collective organization to promote the individual and collective human rights of cannabis users. Based on this model, they understand that there may coexist many variants and ways for developing activities, as each community operates with autonomy and has its own identity, its proper laws and policies, which must be worked towards collectively as they try to respect the laws as set in the locality in which the club operates. Its not always easy. Ganjazz exists predominantly to take cannabis consumers away from traditional drug dealers. The entire ethos of the collective can be summed up in three sentences; 1. Attention to and orientation of cannabis users. 2. Cultivation of cannabis for personal use ruled by eight conditions according to legal requirements. 3. Social, cultural and artistic actvities to improve the capacity of the entity to integrate (into society). This is a real bridge between those who consume cannabis, and those that don't. They are currently a small society of members. But they believe the way to achieve their objectives is by developing activities that reduce risks and prevent the harms associated with the use of cannabis. The statutes by which they operate, the philosophy of the association allied to a program of annual activities, are entirely based on the aim of improving the quality of their members’ life whilst maintaining every member enjoys the safe and responsible consumption of clean, pure unadulterated cannabis. The harm reduction capacity for organisations like Club Ganjazz are plain to behold. Its members are habitual cannabis users who will use cannabis whether the Spanish government 'allows' them to or not, so by setting up an organisation which is self policing in terms of cannabis quality, as well as in the strict "no dealing" rules, this is a sure means of reducing harm both in terms of physical harm from the cannabis itself, as well as indirectly, by keeping cannabis users away from drug dealers. Its a concept which deserves our fullest attentions. If you would like more information on the Ganjazz Cannabis Social Club, you can contact them using the following details; GORA CANNABIS ASKATUTA. To contact us: infoganjazz@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone number 0034 637024633. Office Adress: C/Zabaleta 49 Oficina12, C.P. 20010 San Sebastián( Basque Country), Spain Normal adress: Apartado Correos 139, 20160 Lasarte, Spain. Bookmark the Canna Zine news portal as we take a look at some more, European Cannabis Collectives. Next time we look at Trekt Uw Plant, Belgium SOURCE http://www.encod.org http://pr.cannazine.co.uk/content/view/538/27/
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