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Spannabis is a hybrid. It offers up two realities: a peaceful and passionate modern cannabis culture that thrives in the underground, versus an old guard of conservative officials who aim to stamp it out.
The international cannabis community congregates en masse at Spannabis. In its 20th year, Spannabis is the most packed consumer weed festival I have ever been to in my life. Standing room only. An estimated crowd of more than 25,000 attendees found themselves at the Fira Cornellà in Barcelona, Spain, over the course of the week leading up to March 15 to 17, 2024. The event’s organizers said over 500 companies— from seed banks to ancillary— were represented on the floor this year.
In one reality, cannabis is a decriminalized and celebrated plant, a medical healing modality with a vibrant subculture. The peaceful social clubs offer safe havens for weed refugees. Meanwhile, in the other reality, Barcelona’s conservative city officials performed mass raids on the clubs during the week leading up to the main event. The raids targeted over 15 private clubs around the city on March 13, 2024, seeking to collect fines, take product, and slap patrons with costly consumption tickets.
“The cannabis culture is unstoppable,” says criminal attorney Marta De Luxán Marco of the law offices of De Luxán & Nieto in Spain. “The entire cannabis industry has emerged from illegality. Even though it generates millions of euros in its legal and illegal markets, it is increasingly persecuted in Spain. While other countries replicate our club model, Barcelona City Council seems to have the intention of closing them, but we are not going to let them. The clubs emerge as a response from civil society to the lack of regulation. People risk their freedom to try to ensure that politicians understand that legalization is more beneficial to society than prohibition.”
The clubs are decriminalized private establishments that offer up vibes similar to the coffee shops of Amsterdam. Their founders are committed members of the cannabis community in Barcelona and represent an amalgam of international industry leaders. The lawyer explains that even if the city ever did manage to close the clubs, which she believes is highly unlikely, consumers will smoke weed and the industry will carry on growing regardless of the risk.
“We will continue disobeying an absurd rule that threatens our freedom of choice,” says De Luxán Marco. She was part of a powerhouse panel of Women in Cannabis at La Kalada, the original female-centric speaker series during Spannabis week for 6 years running.
De Luxán Marco’s headshop called Stoner’s Supermarket recently moved from Madrid to Barcelona, a city that has been safer for cannabis businesses historically. “The reality is that, according to surveys, a high percentage of the population is in favor of legalization. Time has shown that the War on Drugs is absolutely ineffective,” says De Luxán Marco. “That’s one of the reasons it is now regulated for half of the world.”
“In my opinion, the regulators and conservative leaders are more representative of the hypocrisy that exists in Spain in relation to drug consumption, than of the social reality of the country,” she says.
The attorney explains the fine for possession or consumption on public roads ranges from 601 to 30,000 euros, or in harsh cases, can lead to prison sentences. “We have never stopped consuming cannabis, and our industry has not stopped flourishing, despite the lack of light and the legal insecurity caused by the lack of regulation,” says De Luxán Marco. “It is probably the longest civil disobedience movement in history.”
Spanish officials are pretending the thriving cannabis culture does not exist. Other locals believe their goal was to instill fear to permeate the weekend’s show. The same fear tactics that those who have lived through the War on Drugs know well.
“We are in the Drug War, it’s full-fledged. There’s a revolution happening here and I am honored to be a part of it,” says Luna Stower, Chief Impact Officer for Ispire, on Instagram. “It’s so cool to be able to come to a city that doesn’t have legal weed, in the middle of a time where clubs were raided, and at the same time in a coordinated sting across the city, we’re having awards ceremonies for outstanding businesses. It’s so ironic that we’re able to do these normalization moves to try to sophisticate and elevate the scene and you’ve still got this low-vibrational, fear-based attacks on our community happening in real-time.”
A taste of cannabis culture in Spain
During all other times of Spannabis week, one can find the best growers in the world behind closed doors at the city’s private clubs. The fact that these private clubs exist in a legal grey area doesn’t stop the crowds. The raids didn’t even stop crowds from coming back that same evening. Barcelona’s weed clubs are as packed as any nightclub, especially during Spannabis week. The best private social clubs in Barcelona are GWA Social Club (short for Growers with Attitude), Terpy, La Kalada, HQ, Terps Army, High Class, Girl’s Seeds, Strainhunter’s Club, Dr. Dou, and Uncle’s Farm, to name just a few.
Visiting Uncle’s Farm to try his Piattella was a transcendental experience. Piattella is derived from the Italian word for flat, “piatto,” coined by hash maker Zio who founded Uncle’s Farm. It’s a hash technique that displays unrivaled, pungent flavors in its finished product. Uncle’s is community-oriented. His private club doesn’t open itself up for anyone who wants in but instead carefully protected and invite-only list of patrons who treat the space like a second home. Its owner is behind the counter personally ensuring quality control. The experience is unrivaled.
What is piattella? Piattella is a multi-step cold-curing process that pulls out flavors of cannabis rosin, similar to aged wine. “Piattella is made through a controlled oxidation/mutation process of the isolator WPFF,” explains Zio, an Italian living in Barcelona. “This process consists in bringing to their maximum exaltation the organoleptic properties within it, and then stopping in this moment of perfect mutation reached by drastically slowing its decline, which it would inevitably be subjected to.” If the Piattella process sounds special to you, that’s because it is. It has evolved into a bucket list hash offering for connoisseurs across the world.
The Cups brought the crowds
Spannabis is a beast. The lines at the show itself are extensive. For all of its energy and passion, it is less a conference than an underground club. There are no frills. There were over a dozen different cannabis competitions throughout the week leading up to the show. With prestigious titles at stake, these cups are a bigger draw than the show itself for some of the best growers and hash makers in the world.
American brands flexed their muscle on the worldwide stage. At the Auto Flower World Cup, Humboldt Seed Co. won first place Indica for its Mint Jelly Auto Flower. The NorCal mainstay brand also brought home an award for Best Seed Company at the inaugural Barcelona International Cannabis Awards.
California’s power in the weed world reverberates across continents. While regulations keep most licensed brands from throwing their hat into the ring in the competitions here, their presence is felt on the floor of Spannabis in tech, genetics, lifestyle brands, and seed offerings. Showings from Humboldt Seed Co., Cipher Genetics, Puffco, Alien Labs, Connected, Fidel’s Worldwide, Frosty, Raw, TerpHogz, and more, drew in voracious crowds.
Frosty Hash won first place Spannabis for Rosin with a Zkittlez offering. Its founders Madison and Jessica, based out of Sonoma County, are the first hash makers from America to ever win first place in this highly competitive category. Have Hash won first place in the top-tier rosin battle called Masters of Rosin, taking home the gold with a Zkittlez. Colorado’s Mile High Dave won first place at Spannabis Champion’s Cup for his Dante’s Inferno #6 named Best Indica Flower (if this cultivar sounds familiar to you, that’s because it won recently at the Connected Battle Royale in Las Vegas).
“To win on an international stage like Spannabis, the largest cup in the world, is truly a lifelong dream of mine,” says Dave Crawford, a grower whose genetics have gifted the marketplace in Colorado since 2008. “It's one thing to win at home, it's something special to go to another country and take 1st place amongst some of the best cultivators in the world.”
The geneticist is proud to show the world that a grower in Colorado can win an international cannabis competition. “I hope will help people understand that geographic location isn't indicative of growing skill,” says Crawford.
The Barcelona homegrown brand Neighbors took home first place for Sativa at the Spannabis Champion’s Cup. Its founder says it was the very first time he entered any work in a competition. He focuses on living soil, small batch flower with roots working in the Brazilian and Spanish cannabis worlds.
The Ego Clash captures cannabis culture, in its name and also in its profoundly high level of quality entries. The locale is a storied 18th-century castle equipped with its own chapel on the outskirts of Barcelona. Europeans made up the bulk of the winning entries this year, representing a powerhouse of innovation in hash and flower methods. Z crosses dominated the highest-scoring entries. Give the people what they want.
“Barcelona is the world,” says the event’s co-founder Giuliana Roldán. “It represents South America, North America, Russia, South Africa, and Europe.” Along with founding Barcelona’s Ego Clash, Roldán is an innovator in charge of Global Expansion at Puffco, and co-founder of Agencia Humo which launched as Spannabis week began. The creative cannabis agency is also helmed by Ana María Tebar, Creative Director of Terpy, and Francesco Terpy, founder behind one of the city’s most hopping private clubs called Terpy. With its Alien-esque yellow branding, they’ve built a brand on par with the most recognizable in the world.
The coveted first place Rosin win went to the UK’s Single Sorcery with an impressive ZHead, and second place Poochie’s Papaya by London Organix, and Secret Society Hash Co. out of Denver placed third. Full melt winners were Bud Professor, a hash maker from Spain with Melon Ball; second place was America’s the Real Cannabis Chris who grows utilizing organic living soil with his Baja Surf Break; and full melt winner for third place was Santa Hash with a Cap Junky. Dry sift winners were Roo Labs from Spain, Barcelona’s Femme Fatale in second, and The Uncle Jack in third.
Flower winners included the first place French farmers at La Chanvrière (chanvre means hemp in English, this translates to hempwork). Second place flower was made by Spain-based The Zombie Farmer, and third was Pure and Proper. The Zombie Farmer also took home first place for Rosin at the Spannabis Champion’s Cup.
“Many people are working on this. It’s our life’s work,” says Eden High Centre’s founder, who chose to omit his name for safety reasons. He is an award-winning grower and hash hunter with a private club in Madrid. “I think it's unstoppable. It's like the plant. They cannot stop it. You put a stone over the plant, it’s going to grow around the side of the stone.”
He says business owners live a “semi-legal life” in Spain. He offers an optimistic point-of-view on the raids of the previous week. “Actually, these interventions were very soft,” says the grower. “They are not taking people to the police station even to the jail, nothing. But they do make our lives difficult in a legal manner.”
The future can’t come fast enough.
