The Minister of Health, Mónica García, has completely ruled out that her department is going to regulate the recreational use of cannabis. She has indicated this in the joint addictions commission of the Congress of Deputies, where she has made it clear that the ministry’s actions will focus on the therapeutic use of cannabis. “All the necessary reports have been collected to show that the regulation of medicinal cannabis covers a need of a population group to address a public health problem such as pain. This does not influence in any way the scope of addictions,” he indicated.
García made reference to the consumption of recreational cannabis, pointing out that the increases in cannabis consumption “we are seeing within a framework of prohibition and there are several countries that are addressing other types of policies,” he noted. The last one to legalize its consumption was Germany. But, she wanted to make it clear, “this is something that completely exceeds the range of our powers.”
In her speech, the minister made reference to the 2024-2027 anti-smoking plan, recently approved, and whose legislative modifications will be approved before the end of the year, including the one that refers to the expansion of smoke-free spaces.
Regarding alcohol, the minister has reported that the law on alcohol and minors continues. The draft of the preliminary bill, as well as the Regulatory Impact Analysis Report, have already been sent to the technical general secretariat of the Ministry of Health for review. “We hope to soon begin the process for its approval,” she reported.
The minister has referred to the “medicalization of everyday discomforts”, specifically, the high consumption of psychotropic drugs (13% of the population consumes hypnosedatives, basically benzodiazepines).
According to García, “we need to gradually change the approach towards a social prescription to offer health responses that are more tailored to the problem. This approach is especially relevant in the case of young people and adolescents, who are experiencing a significant increase in the prescription of psychotropic drugs. and perceive their consumption with increasing naturalness”.
And it has announced that the Mental Health Commissioner of the Ministry of Health is working on the development of a deprescribing guide for psychotropic drugs.
The primary goal of this guideline is to establish clear guidelines for reducing or phasing out psychotropic medication when it is no longer necessary. It will specifically address the difficulty of discontinuing certain psychotropic drugs due to the withdrawal effects they can generate, as well as the need for supervision and support during this process, said Mónica García.
Surveys by the Spanish Observatory on Drugs and Addictions indicate that the substances with the highest frequency of consumption are the most available, that is, the addictive substances in legal tender.
Firstly, alcohol, very cheap, present everywhere, and the subject of intense promotion by the industry. Secondly, tobacco, which is much more addictive than alcohol. Third, hypnosedative medications. Finally, there are pain medications that are opioids, also included in international conventions and subject to greater control.
Regarding illicit drugs, if they are illicit, their consumption is much lower. They are more expensive, they are much less available, there is no direct promotion of their use. The most consumed in Spain, and also globally, is cannabis (10% at some point in the last year). The others have much lower consumption frequencies. Among them, cocaine stands out due to the volume of consumption (2.4% in the last year).
Years ago, the people who came for help were almost all people with heroin dependence. Today, the majority of these people have been in treatment for years, and the profile of people who start treatment has changed: the first cause is alcohol (about 25,000 people a year); cocaine (about 20,000); cannabis (about 12,000); and then heroin (about 7,000).
This is followed by behavioral addictions (about 4,000, basically with gambling disorder); and only later, with much lower numbers, other substances such as hypnosedatives (about 1,000), methamphetamine and amphetamines (about 800), ecstasy (about 100), and others.
