An appeal against his 5-year sentence was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Cannabis user associations have come a long way since the first one was registered back in 1991. A hard road of 30 years in which they have developed and spread throughout the country, although with differences depending on the Autonomous Community.
While in areas such as Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura or Murcia the number of associations is very small, there are other areas such as the Community of Madrid, Catalonia or the Canary Islands where associations number in the hundreds, with Barcelona being the city with the largest number, with close to 300 in its metropolitan area alone.
During these years, many associations have also had to close down, usually due to the persecution of cannabis users and police interventions. Some of these associations that have been forced to close down after the interventions, have been acquitted of the crimes they are accused of after their trial (which in most cases can take years). These acquittals come long after they have been closed down and these associations are no longer active.
One of the best known associations in Barcelona was AIRAM, which opened in 2011 and was based in the Gothic Quarter, in the historic centre of the city. An association that greatly influenced the way other associations functioned and developed, carrying out informative and educational activities, workshops, exhibitions, talks on activism, medical cannabis, etc... and reaching a membership of around 4,000.
AIRAM was one of the associations that founded FEDCAC, one of the two federations of cannabis user associations in Catalonia. The secretary of AIRAM's board of directors, Albert Tió, is also the president of FEDCAC.
Whether from the association or through the federation, AIRAM has always been working in favour of the rights of cannabis users and supporting a reform of the laws that offer legal security to associations, as well as collaborating with government institutions and other organisations. The association and the federation were actively involved in the ILP "La Rosa Verda" together with many other cannabis organisations, which after two years of work with all the political groups managed to get the Parliament of Catalonia to approve a Law on Cannabis Users' Associations in 2017, although it was suspended three months after its entry into force by the Spanish Government.
The association was shut down after a police intervention in 2014 and after several trials in 2019 the board members were convicted of a crime against public health and an offence of illicit association and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment plus a fine of millions.
Last November 2020 Albert Tió and Victor Segués, members of the board, went to prison, the president had already been in prison months before.
Federations, associations, organisations and activists are asking for collaboration to ask for a pardon for the AIRAM board members with a campaign to collect signatures. They are also working on the appeal against their conviction before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
We cannot allow cannabis users to continue to be criminalised in Spain and it is urgent that drug policies are changed. We need regulation of the sector and an amnesty for all those who are in prison or have been punished for cannabis-related crimes.
Follow the news on social networks in support of AIRAM and participate both in the collection of signatures and in the campaigns that will be carried out throughout 2021 to support the legalisation of cannabis and the regulation of the sector in Spain. At LosMejoresHumos you will find all the information.
