Spanish Village Plots for Cannabis Cultivation

On Tuesday, The Spanish village of Rasquera was voting on a plan to rent out a field for cannabis farming in an pressing need to generate jobs and raise funds to pay off its debts.

On Tuesday, the Spanish village of Rasquera was voting on a plan to rent out a field for cannabis farming in a pressing need to generate jobs and raise funds to pay off its debts.

Rasquera’s village council on February 29 approved the plan to rent land to an association that promotes the legal recreational or therapeutic use of cannabis by its 5,000 members.

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But since the proposal was met with fierce opposition from some residents and opposition parties, town hall agreed to put it to a referendum.

A total of 804 residents were eligible to cast ballots in the referendum which posed the question: "Do you agree with the anti-crisis plan approved by the Rasquera town hall on February 29?".

Private consumption of cannabis is not outlawed in Spain although it is illegal to sell the drug.

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Rasquera, whose main activity is growing grapes and olives, is suffering from the country’s severe public financing crisis and hopes income from letting the land will help it pay down its 1.3 million euros ($1.7 million) of debt.

The village council, controlled by a pro-Catalan independence party, says the plan would create 40 direct and indirect jobs.

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It argues the field can be rented to Barcelona-based cannabis smokers’ association ABCDA for over 10 times the regular market price.

Mayor Bernat Pellisa has said he will resign along with the rest of the village council if the proposal is not backed by 75 percent of eligible voters.

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"The village, like so many others, has many difficulties, a big crisis, a lot of inhabitants without work," said Rasquera economic councillor Josep Maria Insausti.

"Now we are being asked to pay off our debts impossibly quickly for a small village."

Source-AFP