In brief

  • Using cannabis is not, in itself, a criminal offence in Spain. Trafficking it, or otherwise promoting, encouraging or facilitating its illegal consumption, is a crime under Article 368 of the Criminal Code.
  • Using or carrying cannabis in public places, on public roads, in public establishments or on public transport is a serious administrative offence, and it can lead to a fine.
  • The same national law applies across the whole of Spain. The Constitutional Court struck down the regional laws that Navarre and Catalonia passed on cannabis users' collectives and associations.
  • No national law, and no regional law in force, regulates cannabis associations. Being entered in a register of associations does not authorise any activity involving cannabis.
  • Driving with drugs in your body is banned, apart from prescribed medicines when you're still fit to drive, and driving under their influence is a crime. Since October 2025, standardised cannabis preparations used as medicines have their own rules, run through hospitals.

What the Criminal Code says

Spain's weed laws aren't a single rule, so "Is weed legal in Spain?" is really several questions. Using cannabis, carrying it, supplying it and driving after using it are all treated differently, and so are private and public places. Spanish law also draws a line between crimes, such as those in the Criminal Code (Código Penal), and administrative offences, such as those in the public safety law. Cannabis comes up in both.

The key provision is Article 368 of the Criminal Code. It makes it a crime to traffic in illegal drugs, to "otherwise promote, encourage or facilitate" their illegal consumption, or to possess them for those purposes.

The next article, Article 369, makes the penalties heavier in certain circumstances. Two of them are worth knowing: when the acts are carried out in establishments open to the public by the people who run them or work there, and when drugs are provided to anyone under 18. This guide doesn't go into the penalties themselves. If you ever need to know about them, speak to a qualified lawyer.

What Article 368 doesn't punish is using cannabis yourself. So using cannabis is not, in itself, a criminal offence in Spain, and possession only falls under Article 368 when it's for one of the purposes it lists. That doesn't mean it has no consequences, though, as the next section explains.

Can you smoke weed in Spain? Private and public places

The answer depends on where you are, and the Criminal Code is only part of it. Using cannabis yourself is not, in itself, a criminal offence. In public, though, a different law applies.

Under Spain's public safety law (Organic Law 4/2015, Article 36.16), using or carrying illegal drugs in public places, on public roads, in public establishments or on public transport is a serious administrative offence, even if the drugs aren't intended for trafficking. It also covers leaving anything used for it behind in those places.

In everyday terms, that covers most of the places where you spend time when you're out:

  • streets, squares and parks
  • beaches and seafront promenades
  • bars and restaurants, terraces included
  • buses, trains and other public transport

Simply having cannabis on you in one of these places is enough, even if you aren't using it and it's only for yourself. An administrative offence isn't a crime, but it isn't trivial either: it can lead to a fine (Article 39). When in doubt, treat a place as public.

The same law also looks at the people who run public premises. Owners, managers or people in charge of a public establishment who allow drug use there, or who don't take reasonable care to prevent it, also commit a serious offence (Article 36.19). So in a bar or a restaurant, it isn't only the person using cannabis who can be sanctioned.

These rules are the same wherever you are in the country. For what they mean locally, from the beach to the bus, read our guides for Benalmádena, Torremolinos and Málaga. Our club rules page sums them up for Honey's members too.

Where is weed legal in Spain?

The same national laws apply everywhere in Spain. The Criminal Code and the public safety law cover the mainland and the islands alike, and there's no region, city or island where they don't apply.

Some regions have tried to set rules of their own. Navarre passed a law on cannabis users' collectives in 2014, and Catalonia passed one on cannabis consumers' associations in 2017. The Constitutional Court struck down both: Navarre's in ruling 144/2017 (14 December 2017) and Catalonia's in ruling 100/2018 (19 September 2018). In both cases it held that the regional law strayed into criminal law, which the Spanish Constitution reserves exclusively to the State (Article 149.1.6).

That's worth knowing if you've heard that Catalonia is different. It did pass a law, but the Constitutional Court declared that law unconstitutional and void.

The Basque Country is the case that's sometimes misread. Article 83 of its 2016 law on addictions refers to associations of adult cannabis users. In ruling 29/2018 (8 March 2018), the Constitutional Court let that article stand, but only on a narrow reading: all it does is require those associations to collaborate with the health authorities. As the court pointed out, it doesn't say that members may obtain cannabis through the association, or use it on its premises. That ruling gives associations no legal basis for supplying cannabis to their members.

So the answer is the same wherever you are. In Benalmádena, as anywhere else on this coast, the national rules described in this guide apply.

Are cannabis clubs legal in Spain?

Cannabis social clubs, also called cannabis associations, are usually set up as private, non-profit associations of adult members. Whether that makes them legal is the question many people are really asking. Here is what the law and the courts have said.

There is no national law regulating cannabis associations, and no regional law in force that does so: the Navarre and Catalonia laws were struck down, and the Basque provision survives only in the narrow sense described above. Being entered in a register of associations does not authorise any activity involving cannabis.

Under Instruction 2/2013 of Spain's State Public Prosecutor's Office (Fiscalía General del Estado), prosecutors look at what an association actually does, not only at what its statutes say. A name, a set of statutes or a registration number doesn't settle the question on its own.

The courts have looked at this too. In September 2015, in ruling 484/2015, the full criminal chamber of the Supreme Court held that the organised, ongoing distribution of cannabis among a large association open to new members falls within Article 368. That conviction was later annulled by the Constitutional Court on procedural grounds (ruling 146/2017). Then, in 2018, the Supreme Court acquitted the same defendants, because it could not rule out that they genuinely believed they were acting lawfully (ruling 91/2018). But it repeated that the conduct itself falls within Article 368.

None of the rulings in this guide declares that kind of activity lawful. And membership of an association doesn't change the law that applies to you: in the street, on the beach or behind the wheel, the rules in this guide apply to members like everyone else.

For the later rulings, and for what membership of an association usually involves, read our guide How do cannabis clubs work in Spain?

Driving and cannabis

The rules on driving are some of the clearest, and they apply to the driver of any vehicle on Spanish roads, whether you live here or you're visiting.

Spain's traffic law (Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, Article 14.1) bans driving with drugs present in the body. The exception is medicines taken on prescription for therapeutic purposes, when the driver is still fit to drive. So what counts is whether drugs are present, not only whether you feel their effects.

Drug tests use a saliva sample taken with an approved device, followed by an analysis of a further saliva sample (Article 14.3). Driving a motor vehicle or moped under the influence of drugs is also a criminal offence, under Article 379.2 of the Criminal Code.

The practical rule is simple: if you've used cannabis, don't drive. Plan to get home some other way.

Medicinal cannabis

Medicinal cannabis is a separate matter, with rules of its own. Royal Decree 903/2025 of 7 October sets the conditions for standardised cannabis preparations used as medicines. It was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on 9 October 2025 and has been in force since 10 October 2025.

These preparations can only be prescribed by specialist doctors working in hospital care, and they're prepared and supplied by hospital pharmacy services. It's a purely medical framework: the decree doesn't mention cannabis associations, and it doesn't change the rules on non-medical use described in this guide.

Cannabis associations aren't medical services, and Honey isn't one. If you're wondering about cannabis for a health condition, speak to your doctor.

Has the law changed?

Not in the way some people expect. No bill to regulate cannabis for adult, non-medical use has become law. On 19 October 2021, and again on 21 February 2023, Spain's Congress of Deputies voted against taking into consideration a bill to regulate cannabis, including adult use. Taking a bill into consideration is the first step before it can be debated in detail, so neither bill went any further.

The main developments of recent years have come from elsewhere: the Constitutional Court rulings of 2017 and 2018 on the Navarre, Catalonia and Basque laws, and the October 2025 decree on cannabis preparations used as medicines.

As of the date this guide was last reviewed, there is still no national law regulating cannabis associations. Here is where things stand, in one place:

SituationWhat Spanish law says
Using cannabis yourselfNot, in itself, a criminal offence: Article 368 of the Criminal Code doesn't punish it
Trafficking, or promoting, encouraging or facilitating illegal consumptionA crime (Criminal Code, Article 368), with heavier penalties in some circumstances (Article 369)
Using or carrying cannabis in public places, in public establishments or on public transportA serious administrative offence, which can lead to a fine (Organic Law 4/2015, Articles 36.16 and 39)
Allowing drug use in a public establishmentA serious administrative offence for the people in charge (Organic Law 4/2015, Article 36.19)
Cannabis associationsNo national or regional law in force regulates them, and registration doesn't authorise any activity involving cannabis
Driving with drugs in your bodyBanned, apart from prescribed medicines when you're still fit to drive (Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, Article 14.1). Driving under their influence is a crime (Criminal Code, Article 379.2)
Standardised cannabis preparations used as medicinesPrescribed by hospital specialists, prepared and supplied by hospital pharmacy services (Royal Decree 903/2025)

Laws and court rulings do change, which is why every guide in our Journal shows when it was last reviewed.

Want to see how a private association runs in practice? Here's what membership at Honey involves.

Sources

All sources are official Spanish documents, in Spanish.

This is general information about Spanish law, not legal advice. Laws and court rulings change. For your own situation, please speak to a qualified lawyer.

Last reviewed: